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.
Carbon-eating bacteria can help in the fight against climate change
A few years ago, scientists discovered a bacterium that breaks down cellulose—a tough organic compound found in plants—into usable biofuels without added enzymes. Now scientists have made another discovery about this bacterium: It can take up and metabolize carbon dioxide (CO2) as well. That Read More...
The people who are opposing the Dakota Access pipeline have a message for all us
The authorities in North Dakota keep arresting native people who oppose the intrusion by an oil pipeline on their sacred land. These indigenous leaders are just a few of the thousands of water protectors who know first-hand the toxic legacy of fossil fuel extraction and exploitation. They are Read More...
Open-source plastic recycling machine to convert waste into new products
Take one of the world's most accessible waste products, plastic, and turn it into a resource with a Precious Plastic V2.0 setup. Within just a few generations, plastic has already taken over the world, and while this material enabled a revolution in manufacturing and design, plastic has also Read More...
Dutch dairy farmers are turning cow manure into power on a big scale
It’s a perfect example of the emerging circular economy. The Dutch dairy industry is harvesting the power of poo with a $165 million biogas project. The process is simple: the dung is broken down by bacteria into biogas in an anaerobic digester. Other machines then extract nitrates and phosphates Read More...
The hidden world of soil under our feet
A teaspoon of soil may have billions of microbes divided among 5,000 different types, thousands of species of fungi and protozoa, nematodes, mites and a couple of termite species. How these and other pieces all fit together is still largely a mystery. “There’s a teeming organization Read More...
U.S. is exploring burning trash to generate electricity
Burning waste to generate energy is a common practice in European countries. In the U.S, with its vast amounts of land space, the process is not very familiar as most waste—if it’s not recycled—goes into landfills. However, landfills are at odds with the protection of the environment and Read More...
Why electric cars excite the world’s biggest mining company
BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest miner, is hot for electric vehicles. The Melbourne-based resources giant, which mines metals and coal used for both steelmaking and fueling power plants, is increasingly optimistic that there’ll be a surge in demand for some of its products as Read More...
Healthy soils could deliver nearly $50 billion in benefits annually
The Nature Conservancy and General Mills today unveiled the Soil Health Roadmap at the annual BSR Conference. Developed by an interdisciplinary team of Conservancy scientists, economists and agriculture experts and made possible through support from General Mills, the Roadmap makes the business Read More...
If you want to help protect bees from pesticides, here are the stores to avoid
Most big grocery chains are still sourcing food grown with pollinator-killing chemicals. Before your next trip to the supermarket, grab your shopping list and Friends of the Earth’s new scorecard to see where your go-to grocery store stands in the fight to protect bees and the Read More...
Commonwealth drives strategies to put climate change into reverse
Cities that mimic forests, bricks made from converted carbon dioxide and highways lined with wind turbines powered by traffic. These are ideas that, for now, still belong to a distant, brighter future – when the world’s focus can be turned from halting runaway climate change to actually Read More...