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.
Better fishing practices would help recover fish populations, support fishermen
After decades of declines, most of the world's fish populations could recover in just ten years while fishermen make more money at the same time, scientists reported in a new study. The solution is for more countries to adopt systems for sharing rights to harvesting fish, which have been Read More...
The enormous carbon footprint of food that we never even eat
Discussions about how to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions frequently center on clean energy, more efficient transportation and sustainable agriculture. But research suggests that if we really want to pay attention to our carbon footprints, we should also be focusing on another, less-talked-about Read More...
New study shows desert mangroves are major source of carbon storage
Researchers found that short, stunted mangroves living along the coastal desert of Baja California store up to five times more carbon below ground than their lush, tropical counterparts. The new study led by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego estimates that coastal Read More...
France plans a palm oil tax to protect animals and rainforest in Indonesia
By the time you finish reading this article, browse the internet, scroll through Facebook, and grab a snack, up to 300 football fields of forest across Indonesia will have been cleared to make room for palm plantations. Palm oil is a popular, cheap oil that is used in around 50 percent of consumer Read More...
Bangladesh: The case for renewable energy
Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks in the world, has identified Bangladesh as one of the 'Next Eleven' emerging economies, which means that Bangladesh has the potential to become one of the largest and most influential world economies this century. Although the country was rocked Read More...
Bison to return to Montana after 140 years in the Canadian wilderness
Millions of bison once thundered across North America. These massive animals, characterized by their long, shaggy brown coats, today are making a comeback in a few scattered places in the United States. In the latest ‘resettlement” descendants of a bison herd captured and sent to Canada more Read More...
Carbon farming: Growing solutions for climate change
The more carbon soil withholds, the more fertile that land becomes. So to increase crop yields while curbing carbon emissions, some farmers are turning to an agricultural practice called “carbon farming” to get the most out of their land. Carbon farming uses suites of crops and other practices Read More...
Apple’s recycling robot needs your help to save the world
Somewhere in a Cupertino warehouse, a giant labors with robotic precision, its 29 arms singularly focused on one thing: an iPhone. But instead of putting pieces together, this robot is pulling pieces apart. It disassembles iPhones at the rate of one handset every 11 seconds—less time than it Read More...
Data mining reveals the four urban conditions that create vibrant city life
Back in 1961, the gradual decline of many city centers in the U.S. began to puzzle urban planners and activists alike. One of them, the urban sociologist Jane Jacobs, began a widespread and detailed investigation of the causes and published her conclusions in The Death and Life of Great American Read More...
You can print this bamboo bike in your home for $200
It won’t be long before 3-D printing is going to revolutionize society. Designers in London want to show what that means and are pioneering a new system that uses a small 3-D printer to make the parts needed to put a bamboo bike together. The prototype uses about $20 worth of bamboo to create a Read More...