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.
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...
China is on an epic solar energy binge
It’s worth taking a minute to appreciate the sheer scale of what China is doing in solar right now. In 2015, the country added more than 15 gigawatts of new solar capacity, surpassing Germany as the world’s largest solar power market. China now has 43.2 gigawatts of solar capacity, compared to Read More...
"US could be renewable energy nation in 15 years"
Near wheat fields in rural Kansas, wind turbines spin away, producing clean energy that doesn’t contribute to climate change.But they do contribute to the local economy. Smiling at the turbines on his farm, Ted Bannister says, “Now on a windy day, I’m willing to buy lunch for somebody, Read More...
Seattle's 'aggressive plan' to cut pollution with 15,000 electric vehicles
This week’s pick of city stories from around the web take us from Seattle to the Finnish city of Tampere as we learn more about green transport, Batman’s hometown and a building called “Top Sexy Tower” (seriously). We’d love to hear your responses to these stories, and any others you’ve Read More...
Apple's robot rips apart iPhones for recycling
Apple Inc on Monday unveiled a robotic system called Liam to take apart junked iPhones and recover valuable materials that can be recycled, such as silver and tungsten. The move is an attempt to address criticism that Apple's products, while sleek and seamless in design, are so tightly constructed Read More...
Australia drops Tasmanian wilderness logging campaign
The Australian and Tasmanian authorities are abandoning their bid to have logging permitted in the Tasmanian Wilderness, a World Heritage site. The decision comes after a report by the UN cultural agency Unesco said the area "should be off-limits to commercial logging in its entirety". Read More...
Remote reefs thrive despite climate change
Remote coral reefs continue to thrive despite warming oceans. That’s the outcome of a decade-long study of remote islands in the Central Pacific. The report from University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography provides reason for optimism by highlighting the potential Read More...
”Doubling global renewables by 2030 could save $4.2 trillion”
Doubling the share of clean energy in the global energy mix would create more jobs, save millions of lives, limit global warming and save $4.2 trillion a year, say researchers of the International Renewable Energy Agency. Renewable sources, such as wind and solar, accounted for around 18 percent Read More...
VW in talks with U.S. over fund to pay for pollution
Volkswagen AG is in talks with U.S. authorities to establish a national remediation fund and a separate one for California as punishment for pollution from its cars after the automaker cheated on diesel-emissions tests, said people familiar with the matter. One fund would be administered by the Read More...
London unveils first electric double-decker bus
Transport for London has unveiled the world's first fully electric double-decker bus, just a month before it is due to hit the capital's roads. The new bus, which was built by Chinese manufacturers BYD and comes with a £350,000 price tag, was debuted this week by Matthew Pencharz, deputy mayor for Read More...