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.
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...
France and India to launch global solar alliance
French President Francois Hollande and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday launch an international solar alliance aimed at eventually bringing clean and affordable solar energy within the reach of all. The launch will coincide with a summit of world leaders at the start of two weeks Read More...
Vancouver mayor calls on residents to take climate pledge
Vancouverites may love the city’s green image, but are residents doing their part to actually live green lifestyles? Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson wants citizens to pledge to do just that with a new climate action pledge released Thursday, days before the mayor flies to Paris for the 2015 Read More...
Putting a tax on meat will help tackle climate change, study shows
We already knew the livestock sector accounts for about 15% of global greenhouse emissions. Eating less meat has therefore been known to be an effective way to tackle climate change. But how do you get people to eat less meat? A leading think-tank in the UK has suggested that a meat tax is likely Read More...
Washington project ensures forest stores carbon for decades
Half a small forest still standing near Mount Rainier faced clear-cutting before an effort in Washington state saved the decades-old trees and allowed Microsoft to help finance the project to offset its carbon footprint. The effort by two environmental groups keeps 520 acres of Douglas fir and Read More...