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.
When users play this virtual game, millions of real trees are planted
Since its launch in 2016, over half a billion people have used Ant Forest to convert lower-carbon activities such as using public transport into real trees. The game is helping China lead the way in re-greening the planet and is serving as a model for tree-planting schemes elsewhere. It's the Read More...
This eco-friendly brick is made almost entirely out of construction waste
The hefty carbon footprint of our built environment is one of the main contributors to the climate crisis. And while it’s essential that we find smarter, more efficient ways to operate our buildings, it is of equal importance to reduce the embodied carbon of the building materials that we use in Read More...
Levi’s is using old jeans and wood pulp to create new, recyclable jeans
When you wear the newest pair of Levi’s, you’ll also be wearing someone’s old Levis: they’re partially made from old, recycled jeans. They’re also fully circular: When they eventually wear out, they can be recycled again into new material for new jeans, using the same innovative Read More...
Ocean Voyages Institute completes largest ocean clean up in history
At the end of June the Ocean Voyages Institute’s marine plastic recovery vessel, S/V KWAI docked in Honolulu. The ship spent 48 days at sea recovering 103 tons (206,000 lbs.) of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, setting a record for the largest at sea clean-up in the Gyre to Read More...
After near extinction, thousands of red kites now fly over British skies
In April, we shared a story about white-tailed eagles returning to England for the first time in more than 240 years. Then, just over a week ago, another conservation story out of England was published about plans to bring bison back to the UK for the first time in 6,000 years in order to Read More...
Got milk? These shirts made from spoiled dairy sure do
You know the saying there’s no use crying over spilled milk? Well for LA-based startup Mi Terro, spilled milk truly is a new opportunity. The company is using biotechnology to turn a portion of the 128 million tons of milk wasted every year into sustainable fibers for biodegradable Read More...
A giant AI network will soon track global emissions in real time
Despite the monumental consequences they hold for the future of our planet, greenhouse gas emissions are still not well tracked in most countries. In a bid to monitor and curb emissions, a new alliance of climate research groups called the Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-Time Atmospheric Carbon Read More...
Algae is helping this brewery in Australia cut carbon emissions
The process of fermenting beer releases a whole lot of carbon dioxide (CO2). In fact, it takes a tree about two days to absorb the CO2 released from producing just one six-pack of beer. By adding algae to the beer production process, a brewery called Young Henrys in Australia hopes to dramatically Read More...
Portugal abandons coal power two years ahead of schedule
One after another, European countries are abandoning coal energy this year. Back in April, both Austria and Sweden shut down their last coal-fired plant, with Sweden doing so two years ahead of schedule. Now another country is saying goodbye to coal two years early: Portugal! This week, Read More...
New device makes city living a whole lot quieter
If you live in an urban area, car horns, sirens, and jackhammers are just some of the daily noises that float into your home, but a new window-mounted device could create peacefully quiet city apartments. This solution was shared with us by an Optimist Daily reader and could finally bring some Read More...