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.
Forests are growing again where human well-being is increasing, finds new study
Countries with high levels of human well-being are more likely to show increasing forest growth. That’s the finding of a new study by a group of Finnish scientists, published in PLOS ONE. Their work shows that countries exhibiting annual increases in the amount of trees typically score highly on Read More...
A serious plan to reduce global warming: Resurrecting the mammoth
After decades of research, a pair of Russian scientists has demonstrated that if the diverse species of herbivores that once populated the subpolar region of the Arctic are brought back, permafrost melting can be prevented. Some perspective on the scope and implication of this proposal: If it Read More...
Are cotton totes better for the Earth than plastic bags?
A year or so ago, I decided to start using less plastic. I bought an insulated water bottle for my morning coffee, as well as bee’s wax wraps to replace cellophane, and I largely stopped putting my groceries in plastic bags. Instead, I switched to cotton tote Read More...
Study: Beaver dams reduce river pollution
New research shows that beavers remove lots of pollutants from creeks when building their dams. In a new study, scientists found that a single family of beavers remove high levels of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus from water that flowed through a 2.5 hectare enclosure in the UK. The sediment Read More...
Seaweed could be an alternative to plastic packaging for food and beverages
Indonesia is the world’s second-worst offender in terms of dumping plastic into the sea. 90 percent of the country's plastic ends up in the ocean. And 70 percent of that waste comes from food and beverage packaging. To put an end to this incredibly wasteful use of plastic, one Indonesia-based Read More...
Washington county files climate lawsuit to protect Pacific’s shellfish industry
King County – which includes Seattle – has joined the growing movement of climate liability Read More...
Bio-inspired membrane captures 90 percent of CO2 in power plant emissions
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new biologically inspired membrane that can capture carbon dioxide from power plant smoke. Sandia fellow and University of New Mexico regents’ professor Jeff Brinker said, “Our inexpensive method follows nature’s lead in our Read More...
Only electric ships will be able to enter Norway’s majestic fjords as of 2026
The wondrous fjords of Norway have become so popular over the years that hundreds of thousands of tourists are passing through them on cruise ships each year. While this is good for Norway’s tourism industry, it’s terrible for the environment as the passing of these cruise ships lead to spikes Read More...
With less space and less water, these plant pods grow more lettuce than a farm
A company based out of Indiana is trying to tackle food insecurity by giving people the tools they need to grow their own food. The company offers Micro Growth Chamber Systems that require no previous gardening experience and grow more lettuce in a 10-by-10 foot room than an organic farm can grow Read More...
These materials will bring sustainability to the construction industry
We may like to think our buildings will be timeless and live on forever, but the harsh reality is that they will inevitably be demolished. And what remains from demolished buildings is mostly non-recyclable waste, which ends up in landfills. That’s why the construction industry needs to start Read More...