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.
Teens across Europe are ditching school on Fridays to protest climate inaction
Generation Z, the group that came after Millennials, is often labeled as smartphone-obsessed youth that only care about themselves. If that’s the case, how can anyone explain the youth-led protests taking place across Europe that are urging politicians to act on climate change? Each Friday, teens Read More...
This floating rubbish bin is capturing plenty of plastic in Perth
Frustrated by the increasing amount of plastic floating in the surrounding waters, two surf-loving Aussies created a buoyant rubbish bin that sucks litter and debris out of the ocean. The device is about the size of a regular rubbish bin and acts as a vacuum cleaner in the sea, being able to trap Read More...
The recovery of these 9 beleaguered animals proves that conservation works
Conservation works. Sure, there’s a lot of grim news in the world when it come to wildlife, but that doesn’t mean the collective effort of humans can’t help declining populations from recovering. Just take the Humpback whale, for example. Before a hunting moratorium was introduced in 1966, Read More...
More measures taken by regional authorities to keep Mount Everest clean
Every year, thousands of tourists climb Mount Everest and abandon tents, leftover camping meals, fuel cans, and even human waste, turning the world’s once pristine peak into the world’s highest rubbish dump. In an effort to combat the littering issue, both Nepalese and Chinese authorities have Read More...
How the people of Bavaria are uniting to save bees, bugs, and birds
We are constantly berated with alarming reports that forecast a gloomy future for our planet, giving us two options for how we can react. Either we become paralyzed and give up, or we unite together in the face of adversity to enact change. The Bavarians of southern Germany chose the second option Read More...
New York City to create a special agency focused on managing climate change
With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal spearheading the most dramatic shift in American climate politics in decades, New York City is preparing to vote on a bill that would create an agency with the sole focus of managing climate change. The legislation proposes the creation of a new Read More...
America's ski industry has united to fight climate change and save the snow
Skiing is among the most preferred winter sports in the United States and also a major economic driver in the country’s mountainous regions. Skiing, however, is dependent on a stable climate, and the warming conditions created by climate change are putting the industry's future on a slippery Read More...
Senators just passed the biggest conservation legislation in more than a decade
Hallelujah! Senators from all across the political spectrum came together this week to pass the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade. The bipartisan measure touches every state and protects more than 1.3 million acres of wilderness from any development. Not even roads or motorized Read More...
With some thanks to India and China, Earth is greener than 20 years ago
It seems whenever the word ‘forest’ is in the headlines of a news story, the story has only to do with deforestation and habitat loss. But that’s not the case with this story. This time around, we’re here to tell you that NASA’s latest study found that the Earth has actually become a Read More...
Answers to the questions you never asked about plastic waste
By now you’ve probably heard a million times that plastic waste is harming the planet. There’s no question about that. But there are many other questions you might have about plastic and how we should deal with the problem. For example, perhaps you want to find out if the plastic you put into Read More...