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.
Planning a ski trip? Consider one of these eco-friendly resorts
For those of you who love the thrill of hitting the chilly slopes, skiing is one of winter’s most exciting prospects. Unfortunately, climate change is taking a toll on winter snow levels and, with high energy consumption, transportation emissions, and bulky equipment, the sport itself takes a Read More...
Descendants of an extinct species of Galápagos tortoise have just been found
Conservationists on the Galápagos Islands have discovered 30 giant tortoises partially descended from two extinct species, including that of the Lonesome George. If you can’t recall, Lonesome George was a famous giant tortoise that was over 100 years old and was the last of the Chelonoidis Read More...
Electric vehicles took center stage in Superbowl commercials this year
This weekend’s Superbowl was the biggest event of the year for the NFL, but the big game is also center stage for the advertising world. This year’s Superbowl commercials showed a distinct shift in business consciousness towards a greener future. Football enthusiasts saw prominent figures Read More...
A nonprofit in Boston is turning vacant storefronts into pop-up communal spaces
When businesses stand empty in a neighborhood, the negative effects can be far-reaching. That’s why a nonprofit was created that turns vacant storefronts into pop-up communal spaces where people can come together without having to spend money. The nonprofit is called CultureHouse, and it was Read More...
These researchers are turning McDonald’s used frying oil into 3D-printing resin
Used cooking oils are a major global environmental problem, with commercial and household waste causing serious environmental issues, including clogged sewage lines caused by the build-up of fats. While there are commercial uses for waste cooking oil, there’s a lack of ways to recycle it into a Read More...
Sigh of relief: rare fluorescent pink slugs survived the Australian bushfires
At the top of Mount Kaputar in New South Wales, Australia, lives an incredible species of slug that glows a fluorescent pink color. These slugs only exist on that single mountaintop, which is why conservationists had every right to worry about their survival when the Australian bushfires burned Read More...
Now this is how to make eco-friendly prefab homes without cookie cutter approach
Prefab houses aren’t exactly a thrilling proposition to architects, but with urbanization in full swing, there is a great need for nice, quickly-constructed prefab houses. The good thing is that the architects behind these houses are finding ways to build prefab homes that produce clean energy, Read More...
The ban of private cars on San Francisco’s busiest street is now underway
Just a couple months ago we wrote about San Francisco’s grand plan to ban cars from Market Street—the notoriously congested spine of the city. But the thing about plans is that it’s always a question as to whether or not they’ll actually come to fruition. The good news is that San Read More...
How planting trees saved an entire district of West Bengal
Twenty years ago, the Purulia district of West Bengal was facing a crisis. Water shortages, heat waves, erosion, lack of firewood, and biodiversity loss plagued the area until the 30,000 residents decided to invest in a permanent solution: the Green Mountain. The district transformed a barren Read More...
This new process turns all kinds of waste into valuable graphene
In a classic case of ‘two birds, one stone’, scientists at Rice University have come up with a clever solution for food waste and plastic waste. The solution comes in the form of a new process that can turn bulk quantities of carbon-based materials such as food waste into flash graphene—a Read More...