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.
12 companies turning food waste into wealth
As the old saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and this is the driving philosophy behind the companies upcycling food waste into new products. The Upcycled Food Association (UFA) defined upcycled food products as those which "use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone Read More...
Better late than never: Petco to stop selling ‘shock’ collars
Despite long-standing opposition from animal rights activists over the use of electronic ‘shock’ collars, pet retail corporation Petco has continued to sell them all these years. But that’s set to change after Petco announced on Tuesday that it will no longer sell electronic collars, making Read More...
Waymo is now offering the Phoenix public rides in its driverless cars
The Google self-driving project Waymo started testing its driverless technology in the city of Phoenix back in 2017. Now, three years later, Waymo has announced plans to open its fully autonomous cars to the city’s wider population. In a similar style to Uber or Lyft, people can now book a trip Read More...
Prince William launches Earthshot Prize to inspire climate solutions
England’s Prince William, aka the Duke of Cambridge, has announced what is being billed as “the most prestigious global environment prize in history.” The Earthshot prize, as it’s called, will award £50 million ($64.5 million) over 10 years to help find solutions to repair the planet by Read More...
This startup makes diamonds out of CO2 captured from the atmosphere
From worker exploitation to environmental degradation, mined diamonds are fraught with problems. And while synthetically made gems are marketed to be more ethical, they are often made from fossil fuels. Looking to cover all ethical bases, a startup found a way to produce diamonds that are not only Read More...
Wisdom Supply Company makes back to school waste-free
Heading back to school this fall looks very different for most children, but what hasn’t changed is the heavy use of single-use plastic in school supplies. Binders, notebooks, dividers, and mechanical pencils that help students learn are all usually made with plastic that will pollute our world Read More...
This study gave homeless people $5,660 each. The results are beautiful
In 2018, a Vancouver-based charitable organization called Foundations for Social Change started a groundbreaking research project that gave cash payments of $7,500 CAD ($5,660 USD) to 50 homeless people. The idea was to check on recipients over the course of a year to see how they were faring. Read More...
Thought Leader Series: Jay Inslee on the power of optimistic climate action
The climate crisis is an increasingly present and visible threat to our world and few know this better than Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, who watched more than 600,000 acres burn in his state during just the beginning of the second-worst fire season on record. In this week’s Thought Read More...
The votes are in! Meet the big winner of this year’s Fat Bear Week
Last week, we told you about the most body-positive competition on the planet: Fat Bear Week. If you didn’t catch that story, Fat Bear Week is a competition dedicated to the brown bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska. These bears have been eating as much as they can before the upcoming winter Read More...
Ambitious reforestation project will plant 3 million trees in Uganda
Successful efforts of reforestation and wildlife conservation typically go hand in hand with involving local communities in the process. Not only does this tap into valuable local knowledge around the issue but it also enables local communities to sustain these efforts in the future. This is Read More...