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.
Mangroves: A star player in the coastal protection game
It’s the lazy days of summer, and many of the folks we know are headed to the coast to spend time with family and relax. We love our coasts, from the wildlife-rich wetlands, to snorkeling reefs and relaxing beaches. But these coastal lands are under threat—and that threat is growing every Read More...
These hungry snails are guarding coastal ecosystems against climate change
Have you ever heard of the limpet? It’s a tiny snail-like herbivore that, until recently, never got the credit it deserves. Why? Because researchers are just starting to realize the essential role that limpets are playing in protecting coastal ecosystems from rising temperatures. See here how Read More...
Waste treatment system recovers energy, water and nutrients from sewage
People in developed countries might not give much thought to what happens after the toilet is flushed, but in developing countries that's a serious problem. A system called the NEWgenerator is designed to help take the strain off sewage infrastructure, acting as a mini wastewater treatment plant Read More...
New data gives hope for meeting the Paris climate targets
This week the world received alarming news that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high, displaying that there is still much that needs to be done in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. On the other hand, the data also reveals that global carbon pollution appears Read More...
This is the world's first carbon negative country
As companies, researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs work to make industries and systems carbon-neutral, one tiny nation in the Eastern Himalayas has them all beat: Bhutan is world's first – and only – carbon-negative Read More...
The largest ever tropical reforestation is planting 73 million trees
There are more habitable planets in our galaxy than humans living on planet Earth. But the nearest one is about 70 trillion miles away, which means that, for now, and for the foreseeable future, Earth is the only life-supporting rock hurtling through infinite space we’ll ever know. It’s really Read More...
Plants are becoming better at photosynthesis as carbon levels climb
Scientists have noticed a strange trend happening simultaneously with rising levels of carbon emissions: vegetation is able to use water more efficiently, leading to increased levels of photosynthesis. Apparently, plentiful levels of a particular type of carbon allows plants to adjust their Read More...
How Iceland is regrowing forests destroyed by the Vikings
Iceland is beautiful yet barren country, but it wasn’t always like this. When the Vikings first arrived to Iceland more than a millennium ago, they found an uninhabited landscape with plentiful forests and other woodlands. So what happened? The Vikings began chopping down and burning Iceland’s Read More...
How inmates, scientists, and government workers are teaming up to save a butterfly
If you have been reading news about the western part of the United States in the past few months, you wouldn’t be a fool to think lighting a fire in a forest or prairie is a terrible idea. But that’s exactly what a motley collection of prison inmates, Native ecologists, and military base Read More...
Cities’ best bet for fighting climate change is encouraging sharing
By 2050, 85 percent of people in the developed world and 63 percent of the developing world are expected to be urban dwellers. That creates either an opportunity to reduce emissions or exacerbate them, depending on the type of development we choose to undertake and how much people are prepared to Read More...