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.
Norway decides in favor of wild reindeer over energy
Wind energy is great. But so are wild reindeer – and the Norwegian government thinks the same, evidenced when it recently rejected construction of a wind farm over concerns that it could harm the animals in an area that is home to the last remaining viable populations in Read More...
Researchers discover lost Mayan city with the help of “digital deforestation”
The ruins of a gigantic Mayan city have been discovered under the blanket of the Guatemalan jungle. Using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology to see how the landscape would look without trees, the researchers found more than 60,000 previously unknown structures in the area, running the Read More...
Are glass milk bottles making a comeback because people want to avoid plastic?
Milkmen and women in floats used to be a common sight around the UK, delivering their glass bottles to communities up and down the country. Then, in the 1990s, supermarkets switched to cheaper plastic bottles and drove many of them out of business. Recent news reports about a resurgence in demand Read More...
How Sci-Fi can help fight climate change
Environmental activist Bill McKibben is known for writing grim volumes like The End of Nature, widely regarded as the first book about climate change. But his latest outing, Radio Free Vermont, is a major departure, a humorous novel about a fugitive radio host who agitates for Vermont to secede Read More...
Purchasing these carbon offsets also helps to reforest cities
In 2017, Duke University and its athletics division took enough business-related flights to generate around 5,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. One round-trip, cross-country flight between Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, where the University is based, and the West Coast nets out to around .6 Read More...
Airliner fueled by mustard seed oil takes flight from US to Australia
In the past year, a number of aircraft manufacturers produced their own two-to-four seat airplanes that run on electricity. It shows we’re getting closer to the electrification of the aviation industry, but there’s still a long way to go until commercial flights fly without the need for jet Read More...
This digital store is selling video games for cheap to save the rainforest
Want a way to pick up a bulk of Rockstar Games' back catalog and help a good cause? Then head over to Humble where donating anything from $1 to $15 will get you a whole swath of video games. However much you pledge it'll go toward supporting The Rainforest Alliance, a conservation group made Read More...
Planting strips of wildflowers across farm fields reduces need for pesticides
Pesticides are costly, not only in terms of money but also in terms of environmental well-being. By planting long strips of bright wildflowers through crop fields, it is possible to boost the natural predators of pests and potentially cut pesticide spraying. Research on farms in England has shown Read More...
Could farming rhinos save them from extinction?
Rhino horn is worth more than gold or heroin by weight, so poachers often kill the animals and cut off their horns. It's illegal to sell the horn on the international market, but John Hume, a rhino farmer in South Africa, argues that if it were legal, poachers would breed rhinos rather than kill Read More...
This Southern California city is planting thousands of trees to cool itself down
Temperatures have soared in the Southern California city of Long Beach in recent years, and the average temperatures are expected to keep increasing. This heating trend is partially due to global warming, and partially due to the city’s urban heat islands, which tend to have a lot of cement and Read More...