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.
How a tech industry trick could save the humble banana
The humble banana is a key staple in most fruit bowls and everyone’s go-to cure for cramps, but the Cavendish banana variety we find in most stores today was not always the world’s top variety. In the 1950s, Gros Michell was the banana variety of choice for production across the entire Read More...
Soil erosion is a huge problem for small-scale farmers. Here's a brilliant fix
Soil erosion is a vicious cycle, one that is being exacerbated by climate changes as long periods of drought followed by brief, torrential rainfall mean that fertile topsoil and seeds are flushed away before they get a chance to germinate. This leads to a lack of vegetation, which in turn makes it Read More...
Cambodia’s most popular tourist attraction to ban elephant rides
Despite elephant populations in Asia suffering a 50 percent decline over the past three generations, in some regions, the animals are still taken away from their natural habitats to be exploited for tourist rides. But now, one of Cambodia’s most famous tourist attractions is taking a major stand Read More...
Scientist have made an AI that predicts when and where lightning will strike
Lightning strikes may be beautiful to see, but the consequences of them can be brutal. For one, lightning kills more people each year than tornadoes or hurricanes. On top of that, lightning strikes can be detrimental to farmers as they can cause fires that can destroy millions of dollars' worth of Read More...
This coating helps toilets save water by making poop basically flush itself
In a single day, more than 141 billion liters of water is used to flush toilets—and even in places prone to drought, it’s typically clean drinking water. What if you didn’t have to use as much water to flush what you put in them? Don’t be squeamish: New tech from researchers at Penn State Read More...
The Netherlands is on a mission to get back its starry nights
If you’ve never been to the Netherlands, the color of the night sky can come as a bit of a shock when you see it for the first time. In many places, it’s a hazy, bright orange color, the result of all the lights being used within cities and for the country’s vast amount of indoor farms. This Read More...
Durwood Zaelke's 'quick fix' approach to climate change is just what we need
When it comes to fighting climate change, environmental lawyer Durwood Zaelke calls attention to the importance of actions that have immediate positive effects on climate change. He believes in the 'quick fix', the type of actions that try to solve problems as directly and efficiently as Read More...
Old battlefields find new life as parks and conservation areas
Across the United States, areas that were previously bloody battlefields are being turned into memorials and parks to recognize the violence that took place there and to offer a new purpose of life and recreation for these places. There are 25 national battlefield and military parks in America Read More...
These speedy robots are helping America tackle the recycling crisis
Since humans aren’t the best at sorting out all the different types of waste we produce, recycling centers around the country are adopting robots that use artificial intelligence to do the sorting job better. In Florida, for example, a sprawling recycling factory has 14 different robots that Read More...
There is a giant alternative climate conference taking place in the Amazon
Major organizations such as the UN may have lofty ambitions to change the world, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily successful in representing the desires of the people when implementing action. Many people outside these transnational organizations believe not enough is being done to Read More...