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.
Here’s a guide to personalizing your waste reduction
We at the Optimist Daily are big on sharing solutions for waste and reductions in your own home. For today’s installment on low waste living, we challenge you to take a trip through your garbage (metaphorically or literally) to figure out what areas of your life are most wasteful. Following this Read More...
YouTubers launch fundraiser to plant 20 million trees to fight climate change
With a combined 650 million subscribers — nearly double the population of the United States — a coalition of YouTubers wants to tackle the climate crisis by raising $20 million to plant 20 million trees. The fundraising effort is being organized by Mr. Beast, or Jimmy Donaldson, a famous Read More...
Researchers have developed a more efficient way to remove CO2 from the air
While it’s vital we cut down on the amount of emissions that spew into the atmosphere, we also believe that carbon capture technology represents a powerful way to deal with excess carbon emissions. That’s why we’re keen to present to you a new device that is able to extra CO2 gas at almost Read More...
Your next pair of sneakers may be made of foam from algae blooms
Last week we wrote about a new pair of sneakers from the brand Cariuma made from bamboo, sugarcane, and natural cork. This time around, we present another new sustainable option from the brand Native Shoes that makes use of algae foam from the algae blooms that have been occurring across the Read More...
The Ocean Cleanup is now cleaning plastic debris out of polluted rivers
After successfully capturing and collecting its first debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch a couple of weeks ago, the Ocean Cleanup just announced a new device to catch plastic before it flows into the ocean. Called The Interceptor, the device is a solar-powered barge that’ll be Read More...
A team of grandmas have uncovered a population of rare venomous sea snakes
What do you do with your time when you’re old and retired? For a group of French grandmothers, the answer is to swim and snorkel 3 kilometers five days a week off the coast of New Caledonia. It sounds like quite the leisurely lifestyle, but all the while their snorkel excursions are leading to Read More...
This seaweed-fiber Sumo diaper is the alternative the world needs
In the European Union alone, 17 million dirty diapers are disposed of every day. This is problematic for the environment, especially because the chemicals and plastics needed to make diapers comfortable and anti-bacterial also make the diaper neither non-recyclable nor compostable. In response to Read More...
Pizza Hut is reshaping packaging with its round, compostable pizza box
Not only will the food we eat be different in the future, but also the packaging. Today’s glimpse into the world of alternative food packaging comes from a surprising suspect: Pizza Hut. The pizza chain is trying to reshape (literally) everything we know about how to transport a pizza, through Read More...
London’s air pollution fell by roughly a third after new emissions rules
In 2017, the city of London announced a “toxicity charge” on older vehicles that spewed emissions. Two years later, the city launched the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which requires drivers to meet specific emission standards or pay a daily fine. The rules are rather strict on Read More...
Why scientists and the Forest Service are setting a huge wildfire in Utah
A few weeks ago we published an article about how we can learn from natural wildfire cycles. Now, the U.S. Forest Service in Utah is attempting to do just that with an enormous prescribed burn on a mountain in Fishlake National Forest’s Monroe Mountain. As firefighters and manned helicopters Read More...