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.
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...
Google announces largest purchase of renewable energy ever
Google just announced that it will buy 842 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar energy in the U.S., Sweden and Chile to power its data centers around the world. It's the largest purchase of renewable energy ever made by a non-utility company. By doing this, the company increases its overall renewable Read More...
India to ban old trucks and buses to curb pollution
India will ban trucks and buses more than 15 years old to curb record pollution levels, the government says. India's capital, Delhi, is experiencing hazardous levels of pollution due to diesel emissions, construction dirt and the burning of crop stubble in farms around the city. Air pollution Read More...
This machine can recycle waste paper into new sheets of paper
Although paper consumption has halved since the 1980s, the average American still uses the equivalent of nearly six, 40-foot trees’ worth of paper each year. Epson has a solution for reducing that—well, at least in the office work space, that is. The Japanese electronics company has created a Read More...
Converting carbon dioxide into alternative fuels with underwater solar cells
Stanford engineers are looking beneath the waves for a way to turn greenhouse gas emissions into something useful. The engineers have built energy-efficient, corrosion-protected underwater solar cells that produce energy to create a chemical reaction that converts greenhouse gases into “solar Read More...
Nine ways to improve nutrition and tackle climate change
Focus on sustainable diets. Empower women. Fix our broken food systems. Get better at producing and sharing food. The Guardian asked a panel of experts one of the most urgent question of our times—how to deal with the threats that climate change poses to nutrition and food security. Here are the Read More...
France to spend billions on African renewable energy projects
France plans to spend billions of euros in renewable energy and other environmental projects in its former west African colonies and across Africa over the next five years, President François Hollande said on Tuesday. Africa produces little of the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, produced Read More...
Researchers create magic sponge to clean up oil spills
The effects that massive oil spills have on our oceans are disastrous, but what if we could clean them up in a flash using a sponge? This far-fetched idea is actually becoming a reality as researchers at Australia’s Deakin University have developed a new sponge-like material that’s capable of Read More...
Canada pledges $30 million to finance climate projects in the least developed countries
Today, speaking at a Paris climate conference event for the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced Canada’s contribution of Can$30 million to finance projects through the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), a Read More...
Big companies put their money where the trash is
The recycling industry has a dirty little secret: Much of the plastic that consumers diligently sort is never actually recycled. Instead, some of those yogurt containers, translucent takeout boxes and bottle caps are buried in landfills or incinerated. The issue isn’t a lack of demand for Read More...