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 Dutch build world’s largest bicycle parking in the city of Utrecht
In a nation with more bikes than people, finding a space to park can be a problem. This prompted the Dutch city of Utrecht to search for a solution which is revealed at its central railway station Monday morning. The solution is the world’s largest multistory parking area for bicycles. Located Read More...
Algae-derived paper filter can help solve Bangladesh’s water crisis
The problem of access to safe drinking water in most parts of Bangladesh is a persistent challenge. Now, a team of scientists shows that a locally growing green macroalgae species could help Bengali people filter virtually all harmful microbes out of their water. The researchers managed to Read More...
Smartphones could soon be able to tell when food is no longer safe to eat
In the UK, one out of three consumers tosses out food solely because it reaches the “use-by” date, but 60 percent (4.2 million tons) of the $15.1 billion worth of food Brits throw away each year is safe to eat. In a bid to bring down this eye-watering amount of wasted food and money, Read More...
Tackling Toxins with Nature’s Super Clean-up Crew: Mushrooms
Aside from being a delicious and nutritious addition to many meals, mushrooms may be the planet’s best and most functional decomposer. In addition to breaking down traditional objects found in nature, mushrooms have also been found to break down chemicals in soil and heavy metals in water. At Read More...
Meat from Plants, Milk from Oats, and Leather from Mushrooms!
Leather has been worn for centuries and remains an iconic material for fashion today. But leather is not perfect. It requires livestock which requires many resources and the foul treatment of animals and produces millions of tons of waste per year. The word “leather” is quickly becoming Read More...
Colorful basketball courts for a brighter future
It is no doubt that sports and outdoor activities can have beneficial effects on a community. Rainbow Recreation Center in Oakland, California is taking the benefits to a new level. Dan Peterson has begun fixing up basketball courts in urban communities to bring people together and make the area Read More...
Helsinki has an app that gives you all the guidance you need to live sustainably
No matter what you think of the proliferation of smartphones in society, it’s hard to deny that apps can make some facets of life much easier—including living a sustainable life. In Helsinki, the capital city of Finland, a new app has been launched that lets residents, tourists and business Read More...
This ancient Arabic technique is saving Alicante from floods
In Alicante, it never rains, but it pours. The city in southeast Spain goes without rain for months on end, but when it comes, it’s torrential, bringing destructive and sometimes fatal flooding - or, at least, it used to. In San Juan, a low-lying area of the city, authorities have built a new Read More...
Paris will soon be home to the largest rooftop urban farm in the world
With 65,000 square feet of warehouse rooftop space dedicated to growing all sorts of produce, New York City’s Brooklyn Grange is one of the largest urban farms in the world. Next year, however, the urban farm will seem like a dwarf in comparison to a new urban farm soon to open in Paris. The Read More...
Salmon populations are bouncing back in Washington—thanks to beavers
Beavers are known to settle in freshwater lakes and rivers, so a tidally salty wetland might seem like a strange place to search for beavers. But in Washington, beavers have made their home at the salty Elwha delta which was only recently reformed after two dams in the area were removed in the Read More...