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.
Wimbledon serves up ban on plastic straws
Wimbledon would not be the same without a thirst-quenching Pimm’s, but this year visitors to the annual tennis championships will be served the beverage without the customary plastic Read More...
The people fighting pollution with plastic-free periods
Talking about periods openly can be difficult, and discussing menstrual waste can be even harder. While the fight against single-use plastics like straws and shopping bags has become a mainstream issue, activists and environmental groups say disposable menstrual products are part of the problem Read More...
The EU is banning this widely-used bee-killing insecticide
Insecticides are killing bee populations in Europe at an alarming rate. To save our beleaguered pollinators, the European Union has moved to ban the most widely used insecticides for use in fields. Recent research showed these insecticides were not only killing insects rapidly, but were also Read More...
Big businesses are saying no to plastic trash in the UK
Over 40 companies including Coca-Cola, Nestle, Unilever and Procter & Gamble have pledged to slash the amount of plastic they use and throw away in the United Read More...
10 of the tallest trees in the world
Trees may be stuck in the ground, but they've clearly got some enviable traits – I mean, who wouldn't want to live in a pretty forest for a few thousand years? But despite all the things that trees are famous for, it's perhaps their height that inspires the most reverie. Humans may have a lot of Read More...
Refugees in Cameroon are replanting thousands and thousands of trees
An area about the size of a city block in Manhattan is typically cut down per person per year in Cameroon for use as firewood or to make charcoal. The Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon, which has a population of more than 60,000 people who fled from Boko Haram, has only led to a further decimation Read More...
For the sake of our only planet, recycle your e-waste
My apartment is rife with black holes. There’s the space between my hamper and dresser, where garments that need mending go — never to re-emerge. There’s the smallest drawer in my kitchen, jam-packed with plastic utensils and forgotten coupons. And then, of course, there’s the second drawer Read More...
From Siberia, an unlikely cry: ‘We need Greenpeace out here!’
At a truck stop at the northern terminus of the Vilyui ice highway in northeastern Siberia, drivers make small talk not about life on the road but rather the life of the road. It might last another week, suggested one driver casually, tucking into a steaming plate of Read More...
Air pollution levels dropped 89 percent during the London Marathon
When you look at the numbers, it’s no wonder activists are urging lawmakers to make the centers of cities car-free. During the London Marathon, which happened this past Sunday, traffic-free streets saw an 89 percent drop in pollution levels. Just imagine how much better our quality of air would Read More...
Al Gore: ‘We're in the early stages of a sustainability revolution'
There is a growing perception in the markets of developed nations that our current economic model is no longer fit for purpose. For a number of reasons related to economic performance, social and political divisions have grown wider than ever and large swathes of the population feel excluded from Read More...