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.
Wildlife rescue group uses clasps from old bras to treat injured turtles
If you think that bras have no other purpose than supporting women’s bodies, think again. A wildlife rescue organization in North Carolina last month put out a very unusual request on Facebook calling for people to donate their old or ill-fitting bras to help save turtles with cracked shells. Read More...
A new startup is on a quest to remove plastic from online grocery shipping
Single-use plastics are ubiquitous in the world of food. Sure, some supermarkets are starting to eliminate this type of packaging, but what we urgently need is a way to do groceries without all the plastic. That’s where a new online grocery service, Rise Mrkt, comes in. The startup, which says Read More...
This startup vaporizes trash and turns it into new products—without emissions
In recent weeks we have talked about waste-to-energy plants that burn waste and use the resulting heat to produce electricity. The problem, however, is that this process also produces toxic emissions. One Bill Gates-backed startup by the name of Sierra Energy has a better solution: rather than Read More...
Wastewater plants use a whole lot of energy. This could make them carbon-neutral
Coastal wastewater treatment plants may be a nasty but necessary way to handle the effluent from our cities, but a new study by Stanford University indicates that they could also double as power plants to make them energy independent and carbon neutral. By mixing freshwater from the plants with Read More...
India’s tiger population grows by one third in only four years
Nine years ago, India sought to double its tiger population by 2022. But on International Tiger Day, the country announced it met its goal four years earlier than expected. Through assiduous conservation efforts, India is now home to nearly 3,000 tigers, a third more than it had four years ago, Read More...
Ethiopians break records by planting more than 350m trees in one single day
Earlier this year, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister officially launched an ambitious initiative aiming at restoring the country’s landscape, which experts say is fast being eroded by deforestation and climate change. The campaign entails planting an astounding 4 billion trees by the end of the Read More...
Scientists are demanding a fifth Geneva Convention to protect nature from war
When we think of war crimes, we typically think of actions like taking hostages, torturing prisoners, or enlisting child soldiers. Now a group of scientists wants to add another item to that list: harming the environment. An open letter signed by 24 prominent scientists from around the world Read More...
This is what happened when Madrid’s new government tried repealing the car ban
When Madrid’s new administration came to power this past May, it seemed European city car bans were in peril. It’s become somewhat of a trend to ban cars from major city centers in Europe, but the city’s new government promised to scrap the law that had seen almost all private cars disappear Read More...
New Zealand’s rarest bird is having its best breeding season in decades
The kākāriki karaka, also known as the orange-fronted parakeet, is New Zealand’s rarest mainland forest bird. Around the world, it was estimated that the population of this critically endangered species ranged between 100-300. But this breeding season has apparently been the most the fruitful Read More...
Berkeley becomes the first city in America to ban natural gas in new buildings
For decades, natural gas was considered among the preferred energy sources for buildings and embraced as a bridge from dirtier fossil fuels to a green energy future. Now it seems that the transition period is coming to a close after the city of Berkeley passed a landmark ordinance that will ban Read More...