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.
Wildfire prevention Portugal style: goats
Wildfires threaten environments around the world. There’s a prevention method that has been tested over centuries: goats. Last year deaths from wildfires in Portugal reached a record high of 106. This summer, however, hundreds of goats are being deployed to eat underbrush and dry vegetation that Read More...
At last, some Republicans are joining the climate change fight
Global warming has been accepted by almost every government and political party in the world—except for the Republican party in the U.S. So, it’s major news that a Republican member of the House of Representatives has introduced legislation to implement a carbon tax. Starting in 2020, the tax Read More...
Where politicians fail, kids are succeeding: the success of climate change suits
Nobody could have predicted children would get this far. From Colombia and Belgium to India, Norway and the U.S., they are succeeding bringing lawsuits arguing that their governments have violated “the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property” by adopting Read More...
IBM thinks blockchains can help reduce carbon emissions
IBM is turning carbon credits into crypto-tokens—part of a scheme to create a massive marketplace of novel digital Read More...
This 19th-century invention to heat homes helps cutting carbon emissions
Heat pumps were invented in 1856. The system works as a fridge in reverse. The pumps never became a commercial winner because they are powered by electricity and it was usually cheaper to burn fossil fuels for heating and cooling homes. That’s now changing as the world spends about 15 percent of Read More...
This British town became plastic-free 6 months ago, now 330 towns are following
Last year, Penzance became the first town in Britain to receive “plastic-free” status from Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). The former single-issue movement, founded in Cornwall in 1990, has become a national marine conservation charity with plastics in its sights. But, rather than target Read More...
Global warming and a healthy planet: It’s not your car, it’s your diet
The largest human source of carbon dioxide emissions is from the combustion of fossil fuels. At least, that is what we have been told. A new report forecasts that that is rapidly changing. The meat and dairy sector could be responsible for 80 percent of the greenhouse gases by 2050. It may not be Read More...
This tiny fern has helped humanity before—it could do so again
This fern is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet. It has the potential to be a significant carbon sink. And the fern provides multiple additional benefits: it is a great source of biofuel am fertilizer and it acts as insect and pest repellent… and the plant saved life on the planet Read More...
If you want to save on carbon emissions, travel by cargo ship
Many people are concerned about the carbon footprint of their air travel. A round-trip trans-Atlantic flight can easily gobble up a ton of carbon dioxide per passenger—about half the annual emissions an individual should aim for if we’re to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. If you are Read More...
Collecting bottles: is Norway presenting the solution to the plastic crisis?
Norway has a successful deposit-return scheme for plastic bottles and cans. Its success is unarguable – 97 percent of all plastic drink bottles in Norway are recycled, 92 percent to such a high standard that they are turned back into drink bottles. Some of the material has been recycled more than Read More...