Today’s Solutions: July 18, 2026

Close-up of a dense cluster of oyster shells with rough, layered surfaces in beige, brown, and purple tones.

Dinner scraps are rebuilding California’s lost oyster reefs

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM What if scraps from a dinner could become a habitat? That's the basic premise of the Shells for Shorelines program in a meaningful sense: the shells of oysters eaten at restaurants in Orange County can become the foundation on which new oysters settle and Read More...

This long-lost river could pro

This long-lost river could provide modern day climate solutions

Today, the area of the Gulf of Mexico known as the Trinity River Paleovalley is submerged underwater, but 20,000 years ago, when ice covered immense areas of the planet, sea levels were significantly lower, meaning the valley was not underwater, but rather a lively coastline through which the Read More...