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.
There's something fishy about this biodegradable plastic
It’s no secret that plastic is not a friend to our environment. Commonly used types of plastic, like polyurethane, are made from non-renewable crude oil and will take hundreds of years to break down once thrown out. The problem is that humans use plastic for a variety of things, so much so that Read More...
Tree fungus can help boost tomato yields and improve flavor
Ceriporia lacerata is a type of fungus that causes trees to rot, but researchers have recently discovered that the fungus holds significant potential in helping boost tomato yields and reduce the need for fertilizers. Fertilizers are often used on tomato farms because the plant has a long growth Read More...
Philadelphia is using a mediation program to prevent evictions
Back in August, with Covid-19 cases on the rise and tenants across the city struggling financially, the city of Philadelphia decided to take an unconventional approach to solve a housing crisis with their Eviction Diversion Program. With the new program, landlords are required to attend a Read More...
Coffee waste speeds up forest recovery on degraded land
From boosting local job opportunities to improving biodiversity and capturing carbon, restoring deforested land can hold a variety of benefits for both local communities and the environment. And in the tropics, these benefits could be boosted with the help of coffee waste — at least that’s what Read More...
How Cool Food nudges consumers to eat more sustainable meals
Back in 2019, Genentech, a biotechnology company in South San Francisco, partnered with Cool Food, a World Resources Institute (WRI) initiative, to see if they could cut the emissions by nudging employees towards purchasing more sustainable meals. At Genentech’s enormous headquarters, where Read More...
Kelp could replace corn and soy as a biofuel base
We’ve written about kelp as a tool for capturing carbon emissions, but it turns out these giant underwater forests could provide a solution for many of our environmental crises. Researchers from the University of Southern California have found that kelp could serve as a fast-growing and efficient Read More...
Choose eco-friendly burial garments for a sustainably stylish departure
Here at The Optimist Daily, we have written about how we can honor our sustainable values, even after death, by opting for decomposable coffins or choosing to have our bodies broken down into organic compost. After speaking with someone who had attended a funeral where the deceased was laid in a Read More...
How to stop a lake from exploding? Turn it into a power source
In most lakes, convection helps mix cool water from the depths with warm water at the surface, but in Lake Kivu, this is not the case. The lake, which lies on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is being slowly pulled apart by tectonic forces. This volcanic activity feeds Read More...
Three proposed solutions for California’s purple sea urchin crisis
If you dive under the waters of the Pacfic Ocean along the California coast, you’ll see the seafloor coated in small, spiny, purple creatures. These sea urchins are eating up local kelp forests at alarming rates, leaving behind a “purple carpet” wasteland in their wake. West coast divers are Read More...
Scientists turn old tires into graphene for more sustainable concrete
Concrete is one of the most widely used materials in the world and is responsible for as much as nine percent of total carbon emissions. Scientists at Rice University have figured out a way to reduce that impact by converting waste from rubber tires into graphene that can, in turn, be mixed with Read More...