6 ways to make the most out of social distancing
You are socialized by your caretakers from the day you are born, but what you start to learn is that your external world holds the cues on how you need to be. You take on patterns of behaviors, thoughts, and actions from others to navigate the world. You form a connection through contact, share Read More...
UK natural reserves are open to the public to help people find calmness
While social distancing and self-isolation are both vital measures to help tackle the spread of the virus, they could also take a toll on people’s health due to inactivity and loneliness. But we shouldn’t forget that the benefits of time spent in nature are still there to tap into. In the UK, Read More...
Reconnecting with nature to improve both individual and planetary wellbeing
Regularly engaging with our planet’s natural resources may not only improve your health but that of the environment too, according to a new study. To reach these conclusions, the researchers at the University of Plymouth have used surveys that measured people’s engagement with nature through Read More...
Janelle Lynch’s photographs are a reminder to find beauty in everyday nature
If you were to see Janelle Lynch photographing out in nature, you would likely see her crouched down beside plants, flanked by her dogs, deliberately taking her time to craft her images. Her photography is mostly still shots of small snippets of nature but it is more than the twigs and flowers that Read More...
New study finds reconnecting with nature can trigger ‘greener’ behavior
Yesterday we published a story about a new study that found that people’s climate change beliefs change for the better when they witness their neighbor’s installing solar panels. Today, we present you with a similar type of study coming out of England, which looked at the link between exposure Read More...
Flowers are already sprouting amongst the ashes in Australia
Needless to say, the Australian wildfires have been painful to observe. More than 6.3 million hectares (63,000 sq km or 15.6 million acres) have been burned so far. To get a perspective of just how much that is, know that one hectare is roughly the size of a sports field. Although the wildfires Read More...
Behold the drama and intensity of nature with award-winning photo gallery
At the Optimist Daily, we love diving into photo galleries of nature and wildlife. They’re a wonderful reminder of the precious beauty we’re trying to preserve and regenerate in our world and of the drama that plays out in nature outside our day-to-day lives. During this year’s wildlife Read More...
This bike path allows its cyclists to become one with nature
How do you get people to cycle more? Well, you could offer them the opportunity to do it in harmony with the natural environment. At least, that’s what the Belgian government had in mind when building a bike path through the trees of one of the country’s rural woods. The path, which has been Read More...
Fat Bear Week is the greatest thing you’ll see on the Internet today
Hibernating to skip the cold months of winter may sound lazy, but the fact of the matter is, bears have a lot of work to do to prepare for their long slumber. They have to eat, then eat some more, and then eat a little more. Well, basically they just eat nonstop until they look giant stuffed teddy Read More...
The growing movement that is making nature more open to African Americans
As much as we’d like to think that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in 2019, we’re far from that being a reality. Across the country, police are routinely called to investigate black people doing the most mundane things — waiting for a business meeting in Starbucks, delivering Read More...