Today’s Solutions: March 28, 2024

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 UK is set to reintroduce a

The UK is set to reintroduce a money-back scheme to reduce plastic pollution

It’s a real slap in the face to environmentalists when a company that touts environmental sustainability such as Coca-Cola is found to have increased its production of throwaway plastic bottles last year by over a billion. Such production will only add to the mountain of plastic entering oceans Read More...

Shunning fossil fuels, 40 cath

Shunning fossil fuels, 40 catholic groups seek climate action

OSLO (Reuters) - Forty Roman Catholic groups said on Tuesday they were shunning investments in fossil fuels and urged others to follow suit. The coalition was the largest number of Catholic institutions, in countries including Australia, South Africa, Britain and the United States, to team up for a Read More...

Oyster shells can help us grow

Oyster shells can help us grow food, make cement, and reverse global warming

Each year, the seafood industry discards more than 7 million tons of oyster shells that mostly wind up in landfills or are dumped into the ocean. Researchers find this practice “a collosal waste of potentially useful biomaterials,” which is why they have proposed two plans to reuse shells. One Read More...

Keep your garden natural: Let

Keep your garden natural: Let bee-friendly bulbs transform your spring

It’s that time of the year when you fill your gardens with flower bulbs that will bloom when the dull winter ends. The options are limitless when it comes to bulbs, but unfortunately, many of these are grown with pesticides and fungicides that harm the soil and poison pollinators such as bees. To Read More...

Cities should think about tree

Cities should think about trees as public health infrastructure

Think of a tree-lined street in the midst of a busy city. It feels like something of a treasure: hushed, cool, and sheltered from noise and sidewalk Read More...

Wetlands are an effective defe

Wetlands are an effective defense against hurricanes that we can’t afford to lose

As coastlines continue to be developed rapidly across the world, more and more natural ecosystems like marshes, mangroves, and coral reefs are being destroyed. These wetlands are massively important as they not only help sequester carbon emissions, but also work to protect us from catastrophes like Read More...

Animal cruelty could result in

Animal cruelty could result in five-year jail sentence under new law

People who abuse animals in England will now face up to five years in prison under a tough new crackdown. The environment secretary, Michael Gove, said the tenfold increase from the present six-month sentence was needed to combat Read More...

Brazil backtracks on plan to o

Brazil backtracks on plan to open up Amazon forest to mining

Amazon conservation groups have hailed a victory as the Brazilian government announced a U-turn on plans to open up swaths of the world’s biggest forest to mining corporations. President Michel Temer had sparked outrage in August when he announced a decree to abolish the Renca reserve, an area Read More...

This new material is made from

This new material is made from 100 percent recycled landfill waste

A designer has found a way to turn landfill waste into “Plasma Rock”—an innovative material that can be used to create eco-friendly consumer goods. The durable rock is the result of plasma gasification—a process that heats landfill materials at extremely high temperatures. The rock is Read More...

Scottish scientists are develo

Scottish scientists are developing a technique to recover phosphorous from sewage

With the planet’s reserves of phosphorus running low, Scottish researchers are working on a new technique to recover this vital element from sewage. Phosphorus, which is a key ingredient in the fertilizers that grow our food, can’t be plucked out of the air and has to be mined in a handful of Read More...