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.
Fire and rain leads to rare bloom of Christmas bell flowers in Australia
The Australian bushfires devastated large swaths of nature in Australia, but from those charred lands something beautiful has risen: plains full of bright-colored Christmas bell flowers. These stunning red and yellow flowers used to grow in abundance in the Lake Innes Nature Reserve in northern Read More...
Scientists find a female of the world’s most endangered turtle
The giant Swinhoe’s soft-shell turtle (Rafetus Swinhoe) is the most endangered turtle in the world, with only one known male currently living at the Suzhou zoo in China. Now hopes are rising that this precious species of turtle could be saved from the brink of extinction after conservationists Read More...
Court grants ‘priority status’ to historic youth-driven climate case
Back in September, we wrote about a groundbreaking court case filed by young activists from Portugal that demanded 33 countries to make more ambitious emissions cuts to protect their future physical and mental wellbeing. Those countries include all the EU states, as well as the UK, Norway, Russia, Read More...
These solar-powered barges can scoop up 50 tons of plastic from rivers each day
While removing the plastic waste that currently contaminates the ocean today will be crucial for protecting marine ecosystems, it is arguably more important that we stop any more plastic trash from entering the ocean. Fortunately for humanity, The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit taking on plastic waste Read More...
US are removing old dams so fish can return to early spawning grounds
Over the past decade, nonprofits and state organizations have started recognizing that removing dams from rivers can actually help the environment by allowing fish to return to their original spawning grounds. According to Laura Craig, director of river restoration at American Rivers, removing Read More...
Video: Watch the world’s largest electric plane fly for the first time
On the 28th of May, we published a story announcing that the world’s largest all-electric aircraft got the green light to take to the skies for the first time. Today we’re here to tell you that the plane, a retrofitted Cessna Grand Caravan 208, succeeded in its first flight, exploring the Read More...
This 20-plus-years project restored a giant swatch of seagrass meadows
While humans have undoubtedly contributed to the degradation of marine ecosystems, we are also proving capable of restoring them. Just beyond the salt marshes of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, researchers and volunteers spread more than 70 million eelgrass seeds as part of a 20-plus-years project. Read More...
Study: More coal power plants are being closed than opened
2020 has not been a nice year for coal power. According to a new study, the size of the global coal power fleet fell for the first time on record over the first six months of the year, with more generation capacity shutting than starting operation. Global Energy Monitor, a US research and Read More...
8 simple ways to run a more eco-friendly kitchen
From opting for clean energy to supporting climate activist groups, there are so many ways you can help the world become a more sustainable place. But if you don’t really know where to begin, the kitchen is a good place to start introducing more eco-friendly practices in your life. Having that in Read More...
Green burial: This mushroom-based coffin decomposes in the earth
In the Spring of 2019, we shared news out of Washington state where lawmakers officially approved an eco-friendly alternative to burial or cremation: human composting. With human composting, human remains are turned into soil, which can then be used to grow trees. This is a much greener option when Read More...