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.
Whales keep carbon out of the atmosphere
Unlikely heroes could play a starring role in helping the Pacific islands meet their climate commitments: whales. Residents of the Pacific islands are keeping an anxious eye on the whales that populate their steadily warming waters. Many are concerned that climate change will take a toll on the Read More...
Microbes, new weapon against agricultural pests in Africa
Microscopic soil organisms could be an environmentally friendly way to control crop pests and diseases and even protect agriculture against the impacts of climate change, a leading researcher says. Africa is battling an outbreak of trans-boundary pests and diseases like the invasive South America Read More...
Farmers could lead the way on climate action. Here’s how.
President Trump, congressional Republicans, and most American farmers share common positions on climate change: They question the science showing human activity is altering the global climate and are skeptical of using public policy to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. But farmers are in a unique Read More...
Sweden presents: The shopping mall that only sells recycled, repaired goods
Sweden’s recycling is so revolutionary that the country is running out of trash. So this initiative shouldn’t surprise us: Sweden has recently opened the first shopping mall that only sells recycled, upcycled and repaired goods. The mall features 15 stores offering goods from home decor and Read More...
Regenerative agriculture: Bringing our soil back to life
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. One of the biggest modern myths about agriculture is that organic farming is inherently sustainable. It can be, but it isn’t necessarily. After all, soil erosion Read More...
A couple in India spent a quarter-century nurturing a rainforest back to life
While many places on the planet are witnessing distressing levels of rainforest destruction, one couple in India has nursed a rainforest back to life. For the last 25 years, the couple has been collecting land farmers no longer wanted and restoring vegetation. Slowly but surely, insects and animals Read More...
This electric-plane startup could clean up the aviation industry
The aviation industry is in search of cleaner ways to fly, and it seems they are finding one in hybrid electric-aircraft startup Zunum Aero. The startup has received an investment from Boeing and JetBlue that will help them build a quiet, environmentally friendly aircraft. Zunum’s proposed Read More...
Reviving the Mammoth Steppe and the Wooly Mammoth to reverse global warming
In Eastern Siberia, a father and his son are nurturing an extensive grassland known as the Mammoth Steppe back to life, including the Woolly Mammoths that used to roam it. Their quest to bring back an extinct species is undoubtedly controversial, but their reason for doing so isn’t. With the help Read More...
If Dubai can become a green city, all cities can
Dubai is easily one of the most unsustainable cities in the world. You can ski (indoors) in the desert city! And yet a sustainable city is precisely what Dubai’s government says it aims to create. Here’s a feature of National Geographic describing how Dubai is setting an example for any major Read More...
Scientists ‘melt down’ old clothes to make fibers for new ones
We like to buy new clothes. And, we feel good when we give our old one away. But, ultimately, most unwanted clothes end up in landfills. Recycling of textile is not easy. However, Finnish scientists have devised a method of "melting down" old clothes to make new Read More...