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.
Poland's AirBubble playground keeps air pure with algae
Poland is one of Europe’s most polluted countries, in a world where, according to the WHO, 93 percent of children breathe in polluted air while they play. To protect Poland’s children from air pollution, an innovative park, called the AirBubble, was erected in central Warsaw, next to Read More...
Microbe-based protein could make livestock feed much more sustainable
As an extremely resource-intensive process, producing livestock feed has a huge environmental impact — putting a strain on our water reserves, using a massive amount of land, and, of course, releasing pollutants into the environment. A new study, however, shows that farming protein from microbes Read More...
Study: Giraffes are far more socially complex than previously thought
Until ten years ago, researchers didn’t think that giraffes had much of a social structure at all, but more contemporary research indicates that these long-necked mammals are more social than we give them credit for. Adding to this, a new study from the University of Bristol indicates that Read More...
This company plants a tree for every train ticket they sell
Rail travel is making a comeback as a greener way to travel and now, the UK train ticketing service Trainhugger is making rail travel more eco-friendly by pledging to plant a tree in the UK for every trip booked through their website or app. For the passenger, there is no difference in cost when Read More...
This radio station plays ethereal ambient music made by trees
Silent tree activity, like photosynthesis and the absorption and evaporation of water, produces a small voltage in the leaves. In a bid to encourage people to think more carefully about their local tree canopy, sound designer and musician Skooby Laposky has found a way to convert that tree activity Read More...
Food transport to become much greener thanks to solar-powered reefers
Transporting food to your local supermarket typically requires refrigerated trailers (also known as reefers). These are usually cooled by diesel fuel, with an idling diesel tractor burning about a gallon of fuel per hour and releasing about 22.4 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a Read More...
Little connections can make big cities a refuge for those with depression
Big cities tend to have the reputation of being exhausting and impersonal as everyone rushes around anonymously amidst busy streets. However, researchers at the University of Chicago found that the fleeting (and often forgotten) connections people make in a city can actually help make urban Read More...
Phytomining is the sustainable makeover the mining industry needs
Mining is one of the most heavily polluting industries, especially when it comes to water contamination, but Malaysia’s Kinabalu Park is home to a mine that looks a little different. In this mine, nickel is extracted from leafy green plants with a fraction of the environmental Read More...
Berkeley is the first city in the US with long-term plans to go vegan
Last week, the City Council of Berkeley passed a resolution to cut the number of animal product purchases in the city in half by the year 2024. However, this is just the beginning as the long-term goal of this resolution is the eventual phasing out of all purchases of animal products and replacing Read More...
This eco-friendly energy storage device is made from tropical fruit waste
While your local grocery store most likely doesn’t have any tamarinds in its fresh produce aisle, the tropical fruit is consumed in great quantities in Asia, where the fruit’s bulky shells usually end up in landfills after they’ve been discarded. In a bid to find a better use for this Read More...