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.
Wales will ban single-use plastics starting next year
Amidst the maelstrom of news these past weeks, a few positive stories have slipped under the radar. One such story comes to us from Wales, where the Welsh government unveiled plans to ban single-use plastics in 2021. Under the plans, straws, cotton buds, stirrers, balloon sticks, plates and Read More...
Agrivoltaics: The mission to combine agriculture with solar farming
Are fields of open, often fertile land better used for producing renewable energy or food? The United States already hosts more than 2 million solar installations, and photovoltaic capacity is projected to more than double over the next five years. Meanwhile, our growing global population means Read More...
The case for building things out of actual living materials
If we want to build a sustainable future, we may have to revisit what it is we’re actually building things out of. And though the science around the idea is just beginning to emerge, one prime candidate may be using actual living materials like fungus. Or concrete churned out by tiny microbial Read More...
The southern jet stream is moving back to normal thanks to global efforts
Have you ever heard of the southern jet stream? It’s a powerful wind that shapes weather patterns and ocean currents in the southern hemisphere, particularly in the summer. Up until about 2000, it had been shifting from its usual course and moving southwards towards the Antarctic at a rate of one Read More...
This alternative meat is created from microbes found in Yellowstone
In Yellowstone National Park’s geothermal hot springs, temperatures can reach 456 degrees Fahrenheit, but this doesn’t prevent unique microbes from living in their depths. Nature’s Fynd is using these resilient microbes to create the new wave of alternative protein to be used in the growing Read More...
Celebrate Fantastic Fungi Day with a home movie screening and director’s Q&A
Today is Fantastic Fungi Day! These impressive organisms work to recycle and decompose material in our ecosystems to make room for new growth. They connect to one another through extensive networks and some even provide amazing health and nutrition benefits to humans. At a time when humanity Read More...
Santa Monica’s new civil building will produce more energy than it uses
The City of Santa Monica will soon welcome a new civic building that will not only bring the various municipal departments scattered throughout the city under one roof but will also fulfill the Living Building Challenge — making it the largest civic building of its kind to meet the world’s Read More...
The beautiful perspective to be had from viewing images of empty cities
From the agoras of ancient Greece to Times Square in New York City, public plazas remain magnets to society, places to which we gravitate for pleasure and solace, to take our collective temperature, celebrate, protest. It’s no wonder, then, that the present emptiness that looms over these Read More...
Sunday was World Water Day. These tips will save water in your daily life
This past Sunday was World Water Day. The day was founded by the United Nations in 1993 to celebrate the important role water plays in human and ecosystem health. In honor of this day, we bring you a variety of ways we can all save water for ourselves and for those who do not have easy access to Read More...
Scientists discover two rare new species of sharks with chainsaw-like snouts
If you like teeth, underwater predators, and strange things, then we have some good news for you: Researchers have identified two new rare species of six-gilled sawsharks in the waters off Eastern Africa. What makes these unusual sharks particularly extraordinary is the fact that they have six Read More...