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.
Mouse species feared extinct survives devastating volcano eruption
After Mount Pinatubo on the Philippine island of Luzon erupted violently in 1991, the Pinatubo mouse, a species endemic only to the area surrounding the volcano, was feared to be extinct. Three decades later, however, it turns out the very rare volcano-dwelling mouse is not only alive but actually Read More...
Nigerian farmers win 13-year case against Shell for oil spill damages
A 13-year environmental justice trial has finally come to a close with a long-awaited victory for four Nigerian farmers harmed by oil spills at the hands of Shell Nigeria. The company has been ordered by a Dutch court to compensate the farmers for oil spills that polluted their land in 2004 and Read More...
The UK to plant “tiny forests” to replenish woodland areas in cities
A piece of land the size of a tennis court in Bristol will soon become one of a hundred “tiny forests” planted across the UK over the next three years. The miniature forests are part of a nationwide initiative to replenish precious woodland areas in cities, and will be planted across Read More...
New bike lane construction bill in D.C. aims to boost cycling and safety
Last September, Washington D.C. passed the Vision Zero Enhancement Omnibus Amendment Act of 2019. The law, modeled after one in Cambridge, Massachusetts, takes a novel approach to designated bike lane development and is expected to boost bicycle use and safety in the city. How does it work? Let’s Read More...
Researchers recycle discarded face masks to make stronger road material
In addition to a global health crisis, the pandemic has also exacerbated our toxic relationship with plastic, with millions of single-use face masks and gloves ending up in the environment daily. There are some ways, however, we can mitigate this new form of pollution. Recently, we shared a Read More...
Stylish floating Amsterdam village produces and shares all its own energy
The city of Amsterdam is known for having beautiful homes along picturesque canals, but in the industrial north part of the city, a floating neighborhood has been completed that is unlike anything we’ve seen before. The visionary neighborhood is called Schoonschip (Dutch for “clean ship), and Read More...
The Ideal City is an urban ‘cookbook’ for planners to design better cities
By 2050, more than 70 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in cities. This means that we’ll need to significantly expand our urban landscapes to accommodate for the incoming wave of urban dwellers. In an effort to inspire urban planners to design tomorrow’s cities in a Read More...
Study: Plant-based diets are critical for protecting biodiversity
What is our most powerful tool for protecting biodiversity? A new report by the Chatham House, backed by the UN, indicates that widespread adoption of plant-based diets is one of the most crucial ways to protect endangered species. Plant-based diets are environmentally beneficial because they Read More...
France introduces “repairability index” to bring circularity to electronics
These days it’s all too common to have a drawer of discarded cell phones and other broken electronics in our homes, but if we want our economy to become truly circular, we will have to come up with innovative ways for these electronics to be repaired and reused when they get damaged. To achieve Read More...
Thought Leader Series: Agnes Kalibata on science and the future of farming
Agnes Kalibata is a Rwandan-born agricultural scientist and policymaker. She was recently appointed as UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ special envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, which calls for tangible action on how we produce food to address the limitations of our food system in Read More...