Environment
Need some good news about the environment? The Optimist Daily is your go-to herald of positive environmental news, highlighting eco-friendly solutions and scientific progress around climate action, circularity, conservation, and more. Learn about everything eco in our Environment section.
This sleek pair of sunglasses is made from carbon sucked from the air
In recent years, the fashion industry has welcomed an increasing number of innovative brands whose goal is to weave sustainability into the clothes and accessories we wear. Not long ago, for example, we introduced you to Pangaia, an eco-friendly clothing brand creating fabrics that are responsibly Read More...
OSHA moves to increase extreme heat protection for workers
A recent investigation by NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations found that climate change is contributing to a dramatic rise in preventable worker deaths from high temperatures, an issue that disproportionately affects workers of color. To address this, the current administration issued a Read More...
Thought Leader Series: Practicing Planetary Health
Want doctors to practice better planetary health? Teach advocacy better. Here's how... BY Dr. Bhargavi Chekuri My journey to climate advocacy started with a three-week plastic-free challenge that happened to coincide with the start of my family medicine residency training in 2018. What began as Read More...
St Andrews University embraces pollinator-friendly rewilding on campus
If you visit St. Andrews University in Scotland, you will probably be impressed by the beautiful campus, but the university is going above and beyond to make its grounds even more impressive by transitioning its lawns into pollinator-friendly meadows. The Urban Meadows for Pollinators Project Read More...
Fossil discovered by team of junior naturalists identified as new species
When the members of the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club headed out on a fossil-hunting expedition, they expected to find some interesting shells and perhaps bones, but what they didn’t expect was the shocking discovery of a previously undiscovered species of penguin. Back in 2006, the students Read More...
UK takes action to ban the shark fin trade
This year, the UK has been making strides in its animal protection policies through a variety of ways, like becoming the first country in the world to recognize animals as sentient beings as well as passing the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. The British government, determined to keep up the Read More...
Sunlight and saltwater is all you need for this electricity-free cooling system
Researchers at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) are working on a cooling system that requires zero electricity, something that would be highly valuable in many parts of the world that lack infrastructure but get a lot of sunlight. The team’s strategy Read More...
Environmental DNA monitoring is the conservation tool of the future
One in four freshwater organisms are currently at risk of extinction, but saving aquatic species can be more difficult than conserving their land-based counterparts as they are inherently less visible to the human eye and less accessible to researchers. To address this, scientists Marie Read More...
Vertical modular farms aim to solve the problem of urban food deserts
Millions of people in the US experience food insecurity on a daily basis. This problem has been exacerbated by the pandemic, which has pushed the total number of Americans experiencing hunger to an estimated 42 million people, many of whom live in urban food deserts which lack adequate access Read More...
A team of Irish goats is Dublin’s solution to wildfire mitigation
A new initiative located just outside of the city of Dublin, Ireland is getting creative with conservation and wildfire mitigation by using the country's only indigenous goat species to manage a fire-prone hillside in Howth. Overlooking Dublin city centre, the hillside is now home to 25 Old Read More...