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.
Surfers are attaching Smartfins to their boards to collect data
With scientists in need of more data about the warming of our oceans, a US-based nonprofit has come up with a nifty solution: giving data-collecting “smart” surfboard fins to surfers. Surfboards typically have fins to improve stability. By including sensors into the fins, now it’s possible Read More...
South Australia becomes first Aussie state to ban single-use plastics
Although bans on single-use plastics have been enforced in countries all around the world, such policy has yet to be implemented in Australia. But that is about to change after South Australia became the first Australian state to introduce laws banning some single-use plastics including cutlery, Read More...
Volvo repurposing old electric bus batteries for energy storage
While electric vehicles are certainly greener than their gas-guzzling counterparts, the environmental benefits of owning an electric car, go to waste if EV batteries aren’t properly disposed of or repurposed. Battery waste is toxic waste, and the more EVs are driven, the more used batteries we Read More...
Portugal is no longer extracting fossil fuels on their soil
We recently shared an inspiring article about a group of young Portuguese activists taking 33 countries to court over climate change inaction. Today we also get to share that the country has canceled its last two remaining fossil fuel contracts, meaning Portugal is no longer extracting fossil fuels Read More...
Thought Leader Series: We need more controlled burns to prevent wildfires
Many residents in California woke up this week to apocalyptic orange skies due to fast-growing wildfires across the state. Today, for our Thought Leader Series, we share a ProPublica article that dives deeper into solutions for reducing the severity of what many are now calling Read More...
Zimbabwe bans coal mining in national parks in major conservation win
Home to more than 40,000 elephants and numerous other species, including the endangered black rhino, Zimbabwe’s biggest national park, Hwange, is a thriving wildlife haven. In 2015, however, the country’s government gave permission to two mining companies to explore the park for coal, Read More...
Giant robot in Arizona hunts for crops that thrive in hot climates
On the farmlands of Arizona, the world’s largest farming robot is being rolled out to help secure the future of food. The robot, which is called the Field Scanalyzer, looks a bit like a bridge at first glance, spanning from one side of the crop field to the other. With this vantage point over Read More...
Great Barrier Reef seafloor mapping reveals new species and rare samples
The Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor embarked on its fourth expedition this year to explore the deepest regions of the Great Barrier Reef. At 1,820 meters deep, the researchers discovered five new species of corals and sponges and took the first sample of the 40 and 50 million year Read More...
This upcycled flour is made from spent beer grain
Did you know that the average craft brewery generates two tons of "spent grain" every week? That’s up to 500 pounds per ten kegs. This is why NETZRO, an innovative food recovery company, is transforming spent grain from brewing into flour. Spent grain is made up of barley, wheat, oats, and Read More...
Map shows the natural areas we must protect to mitigate climate change
The world’s population has exploded and expanded over the past century, but more than half of the earth is still in a natural or semi-natural state. Protecting these untouched areas is critical for mitigating climate change, so the Global Safety Net project has created an interactive map of both Read More...