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.
Forget bubble wrap, the future of packaging is marine algae
Buying goods online has made shopping incredibly convenient, but it’s also created one of the biggest pollution problems of our time: Packaging. Each day millions of packages filled with bubble wrap and other plastic protection are shipped out everyday only to be thrown away upon arrival, so a Read More...
Youth sue US government over climate change
A lawsuit filed by a group of youth against the US government over climate change can go forward, as a judge ruling in Oregon dismissed motions of the federal government and oil companies. Nonprofit ‘Our Children’s Trust has filed petitions and lawsuits in every US state, alleging the Read More...
Number of tigers in the wild rises for first time in over 100 years
For the first time in more than a century, the number of tigers in the wild has risen, with some 3,890 counted in the latest global census. The tally marks a turnaround from the last worldwide estimate in 2010, when the number of tigers in the wild hit an all-time low of about 3,200, according to Read More...
Myanmar can flourish by sowing seeds of agricultural prosperity
On 30 March, Htin Kyaw, a long-time adviser and ally of Aung San Suu Kyi – whose National League for Democracy party achieved a historic victory in recent elections – became the first elected civilian to hold office in Myanmar since the army took over in 1962. The NLD won the democratic Read More...
Now this is recycling: Watch SpaceX land a rocket on a rocking barge
Space rockets were the ultimate disposable, millions of dollars worth of expensive hardware just tossed away like a piece of Kleenex after doing their job. And as every TreeHugger knows, we pay the price for that convenience, both in the cost of the disposable and the embodied energy of the Read More...
Texas and California have too much renewable energy
Solar and wind power is coming online at rates unforeseen only a few years ago. That’s a good thing if your goal is to decarbonize the energy sector. But if you’re a utility or independent power producer and you make your money off selling electricity, it can be not such a good thing. In places Read More...
World Bank to spend 28% of investments on climate change projects
The World Bank has made a “fundamental shift” in its role of alleviating global poverty, by refocusing its financing efforts towards tackling climate change, the group said on Thursday. The world’s biggest provider of public finance to developing countries said it would spend 28% of its Read More...
A surprising ally in the fight against climate change: dirt
Earth’s soils represent a potential storehouse for billions of tons of greenhouse gases, a vital addition to our arsenal for combating climate change, according to new research. The international group of scientists, whose findings are published Wednesday in the journal Nature, argue that carbon Read More...
Climate-smart agriculture in response to global warming
We’ve all noticed confused spring blossoms popping up in February. Or the occasional storm that is stronger than usual. But in many places around the world, climate change is more than a curiosity: those who depend on the land in order to live are the most vulnerable to it. Shifting weather Read More...
'Decoupling': Economies can grow as carbon emissions decline
It's called "decoupling" and it refers to the trend that economies grow while carbon emissions don't. It's the most promising trend when it comes to the fight against global warming. Last year, for the second year in a row, global GDP grew while carbon emission leveled off. This marks the start of Read More...