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.
Jeff Bezos to donate $10 billion to climate action. Can he fix Amazon too?
Jeff Bezos announced the creation of his Bezos Earth Fund this week, which will donate a remarkable $10 billion towards fighting climate change. Any time a donation this big goes directly to forces fighting climate change, it's worth celebrating. But let's not get carried away by the scale of Read More...
Here’s an eco-friendly alternative to your child’s disposable dinnerware
It’s not uncommon for a china set of dinnerware to be passed down generation by generation in a family, so why do we treat kids’ dinnerware like a disposable addition to our cabinets? That was the problem married couple Adam and Ai Su Bonnier wanted to tackle when they created Miniware, a Read More...
Escaped beavers have brought quantifiable benefits to English rivers
In 2013, a group of beavers that had escaped from captivity were found living wild along a river in Devon, England. When plans to exterminate the animals were greeted by a popular outcry, the government agreed to a scientific trial to measure the environmental impact of the beavers, with the funds Read More...
This couple is buying land near a tiger reserve and just letting it regrow
It was his love for nature and wildlife that led Aditya Singh to quit his Indian civil services job, leave his well-appointed house in Delhi and settle in a remote corner of Rajasthan, abutting the famous Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, in 1998. Over the last 20 years, Singh has been buying tracts of Read More...
The largest oil refinery on the East Coast is closing for good
It’s official! On Thursday, a federal judge finally confirmed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan of Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), the company that ran the benzene-polluting mega refinery that closed after bursting into flames last June. The plan includes the sale of PES’s 1,300-acre Read More...
The milkman reimagined: Delivery service Loop launches next month
One of the most ambitious attempts to eliminate plastic waste from weekly groceries is set to launch next month. The Loop, as it’s called, will be a major new online service backed by the world’s biggest brands that will deliver products ranging from soft drinks to washing powder and shampoo in Read More...
How Japan operates the world’s most effective lost and found system
Have you ever lost a cell phone, umbrella, or jacket and wondered where it ended up in the world? Well, if you live in Japan, you stand a much higher chance of reconnecting with your long lost item. The country’s elaborate lost and found system has efficiently mastered how to reconnect items with Read More...
This just-add-water hand wash comes in an envelope through the mail
Considering that less than 5 percent of plastic gets recycled, a number of major brands are experimenting with new models for reusable packaging. To cut the plastic waste that comes with liquid hand soap bottles, a Stockholm-based company called Forgo is taking a clever new approach by sending Read More...
Hobbyists are saving the extraordinary killifish from extinction
Killifish biology has long intrigued fish enthusiasts and scientists. But human encroachment, habitat loss, and climate change are dwindling killifish populations in the wild. Thankfully, collection efforts by conservationists are saving these creatures. The conservationists distribute specimens Read More...
How Vienna is using culture to go car-free
Last year, we wrote about a new transit app being used in Miami called Velocia, which rewards commuters for ditching the car in favor of taking public transit, biking, or simply walking. It was an exciting piece for us to share with you because it represented a novel approach to motivating people Read More...