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.
Hyundai announces EV only production platform
Hyundai, the world’s fifth-largest auto group, has announced a major move forward in the transition to all-electric vehicles. The South Korean car company will launch an electric vehicle-only platform in 2021 with its own battery technology to cut production time and costs for these greener Read More...
Indigenous leader from Ecuador saves 500,000 acres from oil extraction
Dating back to 1989, the Goldman Environmental Prize is an annual award recognizing grassroots activism across six geographical regions around the globe. Among this year’s prize winners is Nemonte Nequimo, an indigenous leader from the Ecuadorean Amazon who last year made headlines for her Read More...
New material can pull precious metals such as lithium from wastewater
Wastewater is often polluted with heavy metals such as copper that could actually be of use, but the problem is that we haven’t had a way to separate these metals from the other contaminants in the water. Today’s wastewater cleaning process simply pulls out everything from nutrients and Read More...
These hiking boots are made from ocean plastic and recycled rubber
Need some new hiking boots that will help keep your feet warm and supported in the winter months? If so, you should check out the Weekend Boot from Canadian footwear company Alice + Whittles. The Weekend Boot is a sturdy ankle boot that is entirely vegan, with no animal products used in the glue Read More...
Protect your lungs this winter with these 5 superfoods
When it comes to the coronavirus, adults with lung-related health issues such as asthma are at increased risk of severe illness from the virus. On top of that, a study presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress also found that Covid-19 can have a long-term effect on the Read More...
Lab-grown chicken to go on sale for the first time after safety approval
When it comes to the meat industry, the numbers are grim for farmed animals. An estimated 130 million chickens and 4 million pigs are slaughtered every day for meat. By weight, 60 percent of the mammals on earth are livestock, 36 percent are humans and only 4 percent are wild. The slaughtering of Read More...
‘World’s loneliest elephant’ arrives at Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
Remember Kaavan, the so-called “world’s loneliest elephant?” We wrote about him back in September when the elephant finally received medical approval to travel and leave the Marghazar zoo in Pakistan where he has been living alone for years under abysmal conditions. Now, just a few months Read More...
One of UK’s most elusive plants rediscovered after more than a century
After more than a century in hiding, one of the UK’s rarest plants has been discovered growing on the banks of a farmland pond in Norfolk, East Anglia, England. The pink-flowered plant, known as grass-poly, “came back from the dead” after recent restoration of the farmland involved removing Read More...
14 nations come together to launch plan to safeguard our oceans
In 2018, a panel of world leaders was established with the goal of creating a plan to achieve a ‘sustainable ocean economy’ in which our precious oceans are guarded against exploitation. The panel featured a mix of 14 developed and developing nations from around the world, including Norway, Read More...
Reintroduction of native bison is bringing “lost crops” back to life
Many native crops across the US that were once integral to the diets of Indigenous communities disappeared when bison herds were nearly hunted to the brink of extinction by Europeans. Without the herds there to help their seeds, these crops all but vanished. Fortunately, as bison herds are Read More...