Handiwork of the heart
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 On a mission to save orangutans, Willie Smits rebuilt a devastated rainforest where no rain fell, no birds sang, and the people spent a quarter of their resources just to get enough water to survive. By Rosamund Stone Zander Rosamund Zander, Read More...
Ode to the American Buffalo
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 The Return of the Bison By Ivar Laanen After a long absence from American lands, descendants of a bison herd sent to Canada more than a century ago have been relocated to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, in Montana. The animals, also known as Read More...
Wildlife whistle blowers
Possibility From The Optimist Magazine Summer 2014 WildLeaks.org is a whistle-blowing website where people can anonymously submit information about wildlife and forest crime. Andrea Crosta, executive director of the Elephant Action League, an elephant-welfare group, started WildLeaks in early Read More...
Possibility: Let nature run wild
From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 Commentary by Fred Pearce, a London-based environmental writer, is author of numerous books, most recently The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature’s Salvation, from which this is excerpted. Rogue rats, predatory jellyfish, suffocating Read More...
Are you inside, behind your computer? Go outside!
‘Every day I make time to go outside and truly enjoy nature. Because of that I have much less stress and have gotten to know my inner child.’ -Participant Rewild your Life You can’t expect people to be mindful of the planet and nature if they don’t have a connection to it, says Canadians Read More...
“The use of land to produce food is at its peak”
We’re increasingly feeding more people with less farmland. According to environmental scientist Jesse Ausubel at The Rockefeller University in New York City, the next 50 years will see an area of farmland the size of India returned to nature. Using less land to feed more people: How is that Read More...
For mental health, settle near nature
We often extoll the benefits of getting more nature in our lives. Jay Walljasper wrote about it for us, way back in 2005. But today we've got a bit of new research to further back up the premise: Green is good. More specifically, a study published this month in Environmental Science and Technology Read More...
Allan Schwarz: Nature conservationist
Summer Rayne Oakes, an eco fashion model, recommends Allan Schwarz as an intelligent optimist working to restore and conserve the forests of Africa and the dignity of the people who live there. Summer Rayne Oakes | Jan/Feb 2010 issue Allan Schwarz. Founder, Mezimbite Forest Center. Beira, Read More...
Cosmic salad
Bring the abundance of nature to your plate. Elbrich Fennema | October 2010 issue The science of economics revolves around the concept of scarcity. How do you handle something you have too little of, like money? How do you distribute something that isn’t plentiful enough, like food? And how much Read More...
listening is worship
Gordon Hempton is fighting to save the sounds of silence in Washington state’s Olympic National Park — one square inch at a time. Diane Daniel | July 2008 issue Hearing the chirp of a bird in the distance, I expect our unofficial park guide to identify another animal resident here in Read More...