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.
Instead of being buried beneath the ground, humans can become the soil
As the cities of the world become denser and denser, land becomes increasingly more precious. Why waste that land on cemeteries and funeral homes for the dead instead of, well, just about anything else for the living? Instead of being buried beneath the soil, an architect has come up with a way to Read More...
Coca-Cola U-turn could help UK catch up on can and bottle recycling
More firms are expected to announce bottle deposit return services after Coca-Cola unexpectedly came out in favour of the idea. Pepsi, Nestlé, Unilever and M&S have already committed to producing more eco-friendly bottles by using plant-based materials or less plastic, and an uptick in Read More...
Sustainable ceramics without a kiln
The manufacture of cement, bricks, bathroom tiles and porcelain crockery normally requires a great deal of heat: a kiln is used to fire the ceramic materials at temperatures well in excess of 1,000°C. Now, material scientists from ETH Zurich have developed what seems at first glance to be an Read More...
Eat organic bread to fight global warming
Fertilizers used in wheat cultivation contribute almost half (43 percent) of the greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study. Fertilizers consist of substances and chemicals such as methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and nitrogen. The emissions from these substances in synthetic fertilizers Read More...
New Exxon CEO supports Paris climate deal, carbon tax
The world’s largest publicly traded oil company appears to be more concerned about climate change than the President of the United States. While Donald Trump works on rolling back Obama-era environmental regulations and wants to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, new ExxonMobil Chairman and Read More...
Red states are acting on climate change
President Donald Trump has the environmental community understandably concerned. He and members of his Cabinet have questioned the established science of climate change, and his choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has sued the EPA many Read More...
German ministry goes vegetarian to set example for climate policy
Eating less meat is a major contribution to the fight against climate change. Governments should set the example. That’s why Germany's Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks is only serving vegetarian food at official functions. The food served at official events should also be organic, Read More...
50,000 new seeds deposited in arctic circle's Svalbard global seed vault
Nearly 10 years ago, a group of scientists got together to build the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle, to prepare for a world threatened by climate change, wars, and natural disasters. According to The Crop Trust, an organization that supports the storage facility, the vault holds Read More...
The first 100 percent recyclable carpets are here
Second only to diapers when it comes to taking up landfill space, around 3.5 billion pounds of carpet are tossed each year in the U.S. And because carpets made up of such a complex array of chemicals, they’re next to impossible to recycle. That’s set to change after Dutch manufacturing company Read More...
Iowa is creating a wildlife sanctuary to help honeybee populations recover
There’s no understating the crucial role bees play in life. Without them, the world would literally have no fruit, nuts, vegetables or seeds. That’s why there is much reason to be alarmed about the drastic decline in bee populations within the U.S. To reverse this trend, the state of Iowa, Read More...