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.
This is how Oslo cut pedestrian and cyclist deaths to zero
In an effort to make the city center free of cars, over the last few years, Norway’s capital of Oslo has been busy replacing nearly all street-side parking spots with bike lanes and sidewalks. The result? Last year, the city recorded zero pedestrian or cyclist deaths, bringing the capital in line Read More...
20 years on, the world’s biggest trash dump is now a green oasis
In its heyday, the Fresh Kills trash dump on Staten Island was one of the world’s great eyesores. Imagine New York’s Central Park with trash mounds 20 stories high. Now imagine that times three. That’s how bad it was. By the late 1970s, an estimated 28,000 tons of trash arrived at Fresh Read More...
How car-free streets unite communities: A firsthand account from Oakland
The Optimist Daily has never been shy to support urban planning that favors pedestrians over motorists. Not only does it make the streets safer, but it can also clean up the air in a city dramatically. But beyond all this, perhaps the biggest benefit of clearing the streets of cars is that it turns Read More...
Nivea is testing a refill station in Germany that aims to reduce plastic waste
One of the most effective ways to close the tap on plastic pollution is to reduce the material’s production in the first place. Reusable packaging plays a key role here since it allows for a product to be consumed over and over again without the need for unnecessary single-use plastic. To Read More...
These colorful dome houses were built to help empower the local community
Reimagining the way we give rise to our built environment is key to reducing its heavy environmental footprint. A compelling architectural project in Iran shines light on how this can be achieved by engaging local communities as well as using simple materials that have been around for Read More...
Princeton study shows how the US can achieve carbon neutrality by 2050
If you’re feeling hopeless about whether the US will manage to reverse its environmental footprint in time to prevent catastrophic climate change, a new optimistic report from Princeton University is here to reassure you. Coming from researchers at Princeton University, the recently published Read More...
How Phoenix is feeding the hungry and saving local businesses
Like most cities around the world, Phoenix, Arizona had its restaurant and hospitality industries ravaged by the pandemic. When the city received its federal CARES Act relief, it decided to allocate $951,000 towards an ambitious goal: saving the city’s farms and restaurants and providing food to Read More...
These American cities will pay you $10,000 to move there
Working from home became the norm for millions of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, and it doesn’t look like that will be changing any time soon. For many remote workers, that means it no longer matters whether or not they live in close proximity to your job. If that’s the case for Read More...
Synthetic palm oil could significantly reduce deforestation
Palm oil is a common ingredient in far more packaged foods than you may think. Globally, 82 million US tons of palm oil are consumed annually. Unfortunately, it’s also responsible for some of the most destructive deforestation in rainforests around the world. The biotech industry thinks it may Read More...
Architecture firm reimagines the mall as a green community space
While commercial centers such as shopping malls don’t necessarily evoke a community feel, a Thai architecture firm seeks to flip the script by reimagining the typical Southeast Asian mega-malls as green community hubs. The design firm, called Architectkidd, has recently completed the first of Read More...