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.
More than 6 million companies vow to act on climate change
Not a handful, not a few hundred, not even thousands, but 6 million companies have made it very clear during the final business meeting of Climate Week in New York City that they want a strong climate deal at the UN Climate Convention in Paris this December. In just the past week alone we’ve seen Read More...
This zero-energy home is run by machines and costs a lot less than a regular house
Can the Axiom House create a new model for how we design houses—and how we build them? A net-zero house—one that creates as much energy as it uses—is usually a pricey custom design. The cost is one reason that there are only around 600 of the homes in the U.S. today. But a new Read More...
Forest conservation takes off
Tropical forest regeneration is ramping up in a bid to boost conservation globally. Monitoring regeneration can be labor intensive and expensive, making it difficult to know whether conservation efforts have been successful. However, manual monitoring isn’t the only option. Unmanned Read More...
This London underground farm grows salad in a WWII bomb shelter
Deep below the streets of London, something is growing in tunnels that once kept people safe from World War II bombs. One hint: It's leafy. Growing Underground is a company that makes "kilometer zero" eating possible in London, by growing salad in LED-lit, underground factories right beneath the Read More...
Could forests store more carbon as the climate warms?
Public lands are considered one of America’s best defenses against rising greenhouse gas emissions because the forests there pull vast quantities of carbon from the atmosphere and store it in tree trunks and roots. As the climate warms, public lands may become even more valuable in America’s Read More...
To build a greener economy, Bhutan wants to go organic by 2020
Farmer Phub Zam, 55, is in a hurry. Monsoon rains have hit her farm in Bhutan's Paro valley and Zam is rushing to harvest her broccoli before crop is damaged. "Of all my vegetables, broccoli is the most sought after," she said. "Each kilogram sells for 90 rupees ($1.40)." That's 15 to 30 cents more Read More...
Big business creates a new non-profit to help fix climate change
A growing number of influential business and government leaders now believe that it will be possible to expand the global economy while meeting our climate goals. But the real challenge is exactly how to do that? Decision makers, when grappling with climate change, often face mountains of detailed Read More...
Here are the U.N.'s global goals that will (hopefully) change the world in 15 years
The countries of the world to set ambitious (and perhaps impossible) goals for fixing our planet and society by 2030. By 2030, the world will be a vastly better and perhaps unrecognizable place. At least it will be if you believe that the world can even partly meet the United Nations' new Global Read More...
To build a greener economy, Bhutan wants to go organic by 2020
Farmer Phub Zam, 55, is in a hurry. Monsoon rains have hit her farm in Bhutan’s Paro valley and Zam is rushing to harvest her broccoli before crop is damaged. "Of all my vegetables, broccoli is the most sought after," she said. “Each kilogram sells for 90 rupees ($1.40)." That’s 15 to 30 Read More...
the Guardian
David Cameron says cash spread over five years will come out of foreign aid budget as he meets Ban Ki-moon and François Hollande at UNSunday 27 September 2015 12.00 EDTLast modified on Sunday 27 September 2015 12.03 EDTAlmost £6bn of the UK’s foreign aid budget will be spent on tackling climate Read More...