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.
Food brand KIND pledges to source bee-friendly almonds for their snacks
Bee pollination is essential to coaxing fruit from almond trees, with almond growers in the US renting about 1.5 million colonies of honeybees per year to produce about 80 percent of the world’s almonds. But between the stress of relocating, the increased exposure to disease from other Read More...
Why painting eyes on the buttocks of cows can save them from predators
Being a cattle-owning farmer in Botswana is no easy feat. To keep their animals safe from hungry predators like lions, ranchers in the region often have to use costly fencing to separate the cattle from the carnivores, and sometimes the farmers may even kill the predators. But a new study shows Read More...
Phew! California’s 2,000-year-old redwoods survived the wildfires
With over 1 million acres torched and 12,000 buildings burnt down, the California wildfires have already been the worst in history. But just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, the wildfires started sweeping through California’s oldest state park: Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Park Read More...
Study: Access to green space helps boost a child's IQ
Green open spaces in neighborhoods give children a place to play, but these pockets of nature could do more than just give kids a place to explore. New research shows children living near green spaces have higher IQs than children living in less green areas. The study from Hasselt University in Read More...
How the world’s biggest battery could help solve blackouts in California
California aims to run its grid entirely on fossil-fuel-free energy by 2045 and has been closing down dirty power plants and ramping up renewables at a steady clip. But while fuels can supply a steady stream of energy, the sun and wind are intermittent. That’s where the Gateway Energy storage Read More...
Major hedge fund dumps oil companies for lobbying against climate action
That oil, gas, and mining companies extract resources while damaging the environment is already bad enough, but what is absolutely unacceptable is that some of these companies lobby against climate action. That’s why a Nordic hedge fund worth more than $90bn (£68.6bn) has dumped its stocks in Read More...
California fires: How you can help fire victims and firefighters
Wildfire season has descended on Northern California with a vengeance, sparked by lightning, heat, and high winds. With more than half a million acres burned and evacuations in full progress across the Bay Area, many people have begun wondering how they can help. Here are a few options. American Read More...
GreenPee is a planet-friendly public urination solution
With Covid-19 cases decreasing, the city of Amsterdam was excited to start moving out of lockdown, but more people out and about meant the resurgence of an old problem: public urination. Fortunately, the city found a green way to address this unwanted behavior with GreenPee hemp-filled public Read More...
Seafood shells and coffee grounds make up this versatile leather alternative
Vietnamese designer Uyen Tran has developed a flexible bio-material called Tômtex, a leather alternative made from food waste, that can be embossed with a variety of patterns to replicate animal leathers. The name tôm, meaning shrimp, references the discarded seafood shells that are mixed Read More...
Mount Rainier sees wolverines for the first time in 100 years
For the first time in over a century, wolverines have returned to Mount Rainier National Park. Scientists from the conservation group Cascades Carnivore Project, together with the National Park Service, spotted a reproducing female, named Joni, and her two offspring also called kits. Resembling a Read More...