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.
The elderly are becoming unexpected heroes in the fight for climate action
While the young, unapologetic Greta Thunberg has become the face of the climate movement, it is the elderly members of the Extinction Rebellion that are gradually becoming heroes in the fight to inspire greater climate action. Among the “normals” of all ages, characters such as the 77-year-old Read More...
This city in North Carolina is designing America’s future composting systems
In the city of Durham, North Carolina, roughly 30% of the garbage residents throw away is compostable. Two-thirds of that is food scraps (the rest comes from paper products). The problem: like most municipalities, the city doesn’t offer a residential composting program. And not everyone has space Read More...
San Francisco’s Market Street is getting a radical pedestrian-friendly redesign
San Francisco’s Market Street is one of the most iconic streets in America, starting from the famous Ferry Building, passing by grand office buildings, such as Twitter’s headquarters, and ending right in front of City Hall. It also happens to be the most dangerous street in the city, with five Read More...
Apple is dismantling old phones to recover precious metals, but is it enough?
Today, smartphones are made with dozens of materials—from gold and silver to phosphorus and titanium—mined in processes that are often environmentally and socially destructive. But all of those materials could eventually be recovered from old electronics and reused for new products. At Read More...
A giant aquarium filter has been put in an Oregon lake to help fish populations
Aquariums and fish tanks have filters that help keep their water oxygenated, so when researchers noticed that fish in Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon were struggling due to low oxygen levels, they built a lake-sized aquarium filter. The filters, which are the size of small garages, were built by the Read More...
This brand is turning old cashmere jumpers into new ones
Cashmere is a luxury good, one people will notice when you wear it. It also has a much larger environmental impact than other fabrics. Whereas it takes the hairs of four goats to make enough wool for one sweater, the wool of one sheep can be enough for five garments. With the demand for cashmere Read More...
Scotland bans plastic Q-Tip sticks to combat marine pollution
Cotton buds, or Q-Tips, may seem like an innocent bathroom staple, but the Marine Conservation Society has ranked them in its top 10 most problematic beach littering products. Over the past 25 years, volunteers have collected over 150,000 of these cotton buds from Scottish beaches, prompting the Read More...
New law makes it near impossible to drill for oil on public lands in California
California’s ban on the sale of fur (see Monday’s story) wasn’t the only bill to be signed into law on Saturday. As it turns out, California Gov. Gavin Newsom also signed a law designed to counter White House plans to increase oil and gas production on protected land. The measure bars any Read More...
What forests’ natural fire cycles can teach us about wildfire prevention
For residents in California, Greece, and Portugal, destructive wildfires have become the new normal. Exacerbated by climate change, these fires claimed more than 135 lives in California alone in 2017 and 2018. But we can learn a thing or two from these fires. In fact, looking back to nature’s own Read More...
Can iceberg-producing submarines change how we think about climate solutions?
In the mission against climate change, innovative futuristic designs are surfacing from some of the world’s brightest minds. One of these ideas was shared with us this week by an Optimist reader and appeared at an international design competition: iceberg producing submarines. The project, Read More...