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.
Return of the Bicycle Kingdom? How pavement cycling is transforming Taipei
A swarm of scooters forms at the head of a queue of traffic waiting for the lights to change. Visors down, engines revving, they jockey for position ahead of the cars, trucks and buses on a specially marked patch of tarmac reserved for cyclists in many parts of the world. The buzz rises to a Read More...
After 80 years of being banned, hemp takes root in American soil again
It has been eight decades since U.S. drug laws made growing hemp in American soil illegal. Today barely 1% of Americans are farming hemp. Before it was prohibited in 1937, that number was 30% and our hemp was considered among the best in the world. Hemp is finally beginning to make a comeback after Read More...
Accountants have found the value of the Earth: $134,000,000,000,000
The world would be a different place if nature had value. Imagine mining companies would have to pay the Earth for everything they would dig up. Now, environmental and sustainable business consultants want to change that by forcing corporate leaders to take stock of the economic impact of how they Read More...
The EPA will limit methane emissions from gas and oil facilities
As a result of the Paris Agreement, the U.S and Canada pledged to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. Now they have taken their first big steps to fulfilling this pledge as both countries announced they will limit methane emissions from existing oil Read More...
Bacteria that can eat plastic
More than 220 million tons of plastic are produced each year, and despite greater emphasis on recycling programs, much of it gets dumped in landfills and oceans around the world. The U.S., for example, only recycles about 14 percent of the nearly 33 million tons of plastic containers and Read More...
How a Brexit would end British high animal welfare standards
As the EU referendum debate rages on, with conflicting facts and assertions flung both ways, it's worth taking a step back and thinking of the positive things we have achieved together in Europe. So often, they remain unseen and unacknowledged. Take the protection of animals. The EU now has some of Read More...
JPMorgan becomes the latest to divest from coal to combat climate change
The big banks of Wall Street follow where the money goes, and right now, its certainly not in coal. JPMorgan Chase became the latest big pack to pull back from coal, joining a growing list of financial institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. It’s part of a broader Read More...
Hidden cellphones in the rainforest are exposing illegal logging practices
illustrates the problem vividly: 48 football fields worth of rainforest are destroyed every minute. It's startling, but Topher White might have a partial solution. White is the CEO of Rainforest Connection, a startup that collects old smartphones, retrofits them with solar panels, sticks Read More...
Solar farms to create natural habitats for threatened species
Most large-scale solar installations are placed on natural lands where the sunlight can best be captured, and that may actually be a benefit to the wildlife living in that habitat. Wildlife charity RSPB and clean tech company Anesco have created a project to boost threatened wildlife at the Read More...
How carbon dioxide from the air can boost batteries
Researchers employ a novel electrochemical process to make carbon nanotubes from ambient carbon dioxide and use them to boost battery performance. by Mike Orcutt March 7, 2016 Sponsored by There is little economic incentive to capture carbon dioxide from power-plant exhaust or suck it directly from Read More...