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.
Baking soda 'sponge' could capture carbon emissions
Scientists in California are testing sponges made with the key ingredient of baking soda as a way of capturing carbon emissions. The researchers say that soda is more effective than current methods and less damaging to the environment. The team have already successfully trialled microcapsules Read More...
China releases new action plan to tackle soil pollution
China aims to curb worsening soil pollution by 2020 and stabilize and improve soil quality by 2030, the cabinet said in an action plan published on Tuesday. The central government will set up a special fund to tackle soil pollution, as well as a separate fund to help upgrade technology and Read More...
China introduces 1,400 passenger super bus to fight global warming
Big problems require big solutions. China expects some 20 million new drivers on the road each year and with them comes more CO2 emissions and air pollution. A Beijing-based transit company is planning to test an innovative solution this summer: A straddling bus. The bus, which can carry up to Read More...
This new neighborhood will grow its own food, power itself, and handle its own waste
If you live inside one of the houses in a new neighborhood being built in an Amsterdam suburb, your dining room might be next to an indoor vegetable garden. Outside, you'll have another seasonal garden. And down the street, almost everything you eat will be grown in high-tech vertical farms. The Read More...
Meet the pizzly: Love in the time of climate change
According to the textbooks, these two species aren’t supposed to inhabit the same environments. Polar bears are marine mammals; Grizzlies are terrestrial. But as the Arctic warms, sea ice is shrinking, and the tundra is expanding, the bears’ disparate populations are meeting, mating and Read More...
Farmers are the new climate warriors
Environmental advocates have all but given up on their long-cherished goal of a federally-mandated cap-and-trade program to rein in carbon emissions, given the present state of gridlock on Capitol Hill. But amid protracted hemming and hawing over how such a system would stack up against carbon Read More...
Doubling global renewable energy saves more than 4 million lives per year
Doubling the global share of renewable energy could dramatically decrease worldwide energy pollution, and save up to 4 million lives per year by 2030. According to a new brief published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), The True Cost of Fossil Fuels: Saving on the Externalities Read More...
How carbon farming can reverse climate change
Are there agricultural practices that might offer more potential than the ones commonly discussed in the “carbon farming” conversation? In a companion post, I wrote about what the science tells us about cover cropping and reduced tillage, two practices getting a lot of attention in what Read More...
Turning coffee grounds into sustainable road construction material
Researchers of the Swinburne University in Melbourne have found a way to turn coffee grounds into a sustainable material that can be used to pave roads. The research team has calculated that with the coffee grounds from all the cafes in the city, 3 miles of roads per year could be build. The Read More...
Young forests suck up huge amounts carbon and play great role in mitigating climate change
Forests that regrow after fires, logging operations, or other disturbances can sequester huge amounts of carbon dioxide and they play an unexpectedly valuable role in mitigating climate change. This is the conclusion of a study by 60 scientists from across the globe. It is the first time Read More...