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.
In the Maine woods, a towering giant could help save chesnuts
Thanks to Nat King Cole, it's hard not think of chestnuts without conjuring an image of them "roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose." But these days, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone roasting American chestnuts over an open fire. The trees and the nuts have all but Read More...
San Diego vows to move entirely to renewable energy in 20 years
Following the landmark climate deal reached in Paris this past week, San Diego, the eighth-largest city in the U.S, has committed to transitioning to 100% renewable energy. The legally binding pledge commits the city to complete its transition and cut its greenhouse gas emission in half by 2035. Read More...
How climate activists and businesses are starting to join forces
Long-time activist Shana Rappaport spent two weeks in Paris at the UN Climate Summit, mostly talking with activists and NGOs. "The perspectives I collected, although varied, were unified by a common message: Our ability to avert the worst impacts of climate change depends in large part on a Read More...
Why we shouldn't forget about carbon capture and storage
The climate conference in Paris showed us there is massive momentum these days to reduce carbon emissions. That's great. But there's less talk about another, more controversial solution: removing carbon from the air, by storing it, and using it to generate other ingredients. The world's largest Read More...
A change of climate in how activists view business
Glacial shifts are taking place. Not just in the Arctic, but also in how activists are thinking about businesses as allies — or at least frenemies — in the wake of COP21. During my two weeks in Paris, I set out to take the pulse of the so-called civil-society community on its perception of the Read More...
Paris climate pact sinks coal stocks, lifts renewable energy
The landmark climate deal forged in Paris just days ago to curb global warming is already making an impact in the world. All around the stock exchange, numerous renewable energy companies saw their stocks rise significantly. The MAC Global Solar Energy Index, a exchange-traded fund holding in Read More...
Conservationists look to 'blue carbon' to help ease global warming
When subsistence fishermen on the island of Chira couldn't find clams in Costa Rica's lush Gulf of Nicoya, they dug deep into the mangrove forests where the small shellfish liked to hide. Women on the island soon realized the fishermen were actually hacking away at their own livelihoods, says Emily Read More...
Modoc sucker recovers, leaves Endangered Species list
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced this week that the Modoc sucker (Catostomus microps), a rare fish from California and Oregon, has recovered and will now leave the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This is actually the second attempt to delist the fish. It almost Read More...
The world can learn a lot from Bhutan’s policies on climate and development
The small Himalayan country where success is measured by Gross National Happiness (instead of Gross Domestic Product) has also set its own high standards for greenhouse gas emissions and reforestation. Bhutan is also carbon neutral, or to be precise, it is “carbon negative”, according to the Read More...
African countries pledge to restore the continent's natural forests
A staggering 15% of global carbon emissions results from the loss of tropical forests. That's why it's such good news to hear that more than a dozen African governments pledged at the United Nations climate talks to restore the continent's natural forests, up to 100 million hectares of Read More...