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.
Volunteers in Texas have saved thousands of sea turtles from the cold
As you may have heard, a winter vortex has brought uncharacteristic bone-chilling temperatures to the state of Texas over the past few days. And while humans are certainly feeling the chill, countless sea turtles are facing a frigid death as a result of the drop in temperature. That’s because sea Read More...
Affordable housing and vertical farms: A match made in heaven?
We’ve written about vertical farms and affordable housing extensively at The Optimist Daily, but never have we seen these two concepts combined. Until now, that is. This is the exact combination we’re going to witness in Westbrook, Maine, where a multistory greenhouse is being constructed Read More...
Brilliant invention provides light and drinking water at almost no cost
Amongst the cream of the crop of the Lexus Design Award 2021 is Henry Glogau’s ingenious contraption: a skylight that uses free sources of energy to light homes at night and distill seawater into safe drinking water. This no-cost, clean energy solution can provide basic services for Read More...
This vegan ice cream gets its creaminess from lab-grown milk proteins
The dairy industry is a major culprit when it comes to global carbon emissions, emitting nearly as much as the shipping and aviation industries combined. Cutting down or eliminating dairy consumption is one way we can personally spur reductions in dairy emissions, but when things such as ice cream Read More...
Tree equity program aims to bring greenery to low-income neighborhoods
Following decades of discriminatory housing and planning policies, many American neighborhoods today still remain segregated on socioeconomic lines. But in addition to differences in income levels, there’s also something else that differentiates these neighborhoods from richer ones — they have Read More...
The UK is seeing a surge in community forest projects
As the effects of climate change become harder and harder to ignore, communities from all over the globe exerting more effort to reverse generations of unsustainable and damaging practices. Take, for instance, the local climate-change group from a village on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in Read More...
What!? Scientists discover life 3,000 ft below Antarctic ice shelf
Scientists have been forced to rethink the limits of life on Earth after accidentally stumbling upon marine organisms living on a boulder 900 meters (3,000 ft) below an Antarctic ice shelf. The scientists were attempting to sink a borehole through nearly a kilometer of the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf Read More...
Meet the Spanish designer who created a cosmetic line out of food waste
A third of the European Union’s horticultural production is estimated to be rejected by supermarkets based on sub-par cosmetic quality, meaning that plenty of perfectly good food is needlessly going to waste. But Spanish designer Júlia Roca Vera has created a sustainable cosmetic line made of Read More...
The Optimist View: "Our Moment of Choice" - Reflections on hope for the future
“A conscious business is a mission with a business, not a business with a mission.” - Steve Farrell, in Our Moment of Choice BY ARIELLE TIANGCO As I reflect on the unexpected events of this past year, I am confronted with a strange mix of emotions. Trepidation clashes with gratitude. Read More...
You can help save endangered species by playing this mobile game
Loss of biodiversity has become an urgent environmental problem in many places around the world. Habitat loss, air and water pollution, over-exploitation, and unsustainable use of natural resources, have all significantly contributed to this problem in recent years, with more than 35,500 species Read More...