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.
Fabrics such as cotton come at a dear cost to the environment, but what other materials can we possibly use instead? A look at a recent fashion competition for low-impact innovations indicates that the materials of the future may come from things like agricultural waste, pineapple leaves, or even Read More...
There’s no escaping plastic in modern life. In Australia, more than 1.5m tonnes of the crude oil derivative is consumed each year, not including plastics imported in finished products or their packaging. And most of this ends up on a centuries-long path to degradation in landfill or the Read More...
Reports about dying coral reefs because of global warming come in regularly. However, there are coral reefs that can survive warmer waters and that can even thrive despite the rising heat. A coral common in the Red Sea can thrive even at temperatures 2°C higher than the present maximum in the Read More...
A Norwegian business man who made a fortune as a “ruthless corporate raider” has decided to give the lion share of his his estimated $2.7 billion fortune towards building a 596-foot marine research vessel that's also designed to scoop up a major oceanic threat, plastic pollution. The project is Read More...
The discussion over the opening of federally-owned public lands to more commercial purposes, or even selling some of them off entirely, is a hot topic this year. But what about areas of the oceans and seas that are also managed by the U.S. government? Recent federal agency decisions on future Read More...
The harmful impact of urban air pollution could be combated by strategically placing low hedges along roads in a built-up environment of cities instead of taller trees, a new study has found. The study, just published in the journal Atmospheric Environment, points out that low hedges reduce the Read More...
On his fifth day in office South Korea’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in fulfilled an election promise and announced that the country will temporarily shutter 10 coal power plants now and will shut them down completely within his five-year term. The South Korean capital, Seoul, is among Read More...
It appears we have missed a few trees. A new survey of the world’s dryland habitats has found a massive amount of previously unreported forests. The newly discovered forests cover an area equivalent to about 50 percent of the size of the U.S. The discovery is good news for reversing global Read More...
Microfiber pollution is a major source of pollution in the world’s oceans as these fibers are gobbled up in aquatic organisms, including the fish that end up on our plate. In fact, a single fleece jacket can release a million fibers in a single washing. The apparel industry has been slow to the Read More...
Norwegian chemicals company Yara has developed an electric container vessel that will be capable of fully autonomous travel in 2020. The new ship will replace 40,000 of the diesel truck journeys the company makes hauling fertilizer from its plant to ports every year. The battery-powered ship Read More...