Business
Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.
Study: How crop diversification boosts agricultural yields
Monoculture, the practice of planting a single crop over great expanses of agricultural land, has drained our soil of the biodiversity and nutrients needed to produce high quality, nutritious foods. A new study from Emory University demonstrates just how efficient our agricultural systems can be Read More...
Company-wide vacations might just cure burnout
We have been trudging against the compounding stress and exhaustion of nearly 18 months of living through this pandemic, and the overarching result is the condition of collective burnout. Parents with school-aged children at home have been completely drained by trying to balance full-time jobs, Read More...
How cargo delivery bikes can curb road congestion and pollution in cities
Online shopping has seen a surge during COVID-19. This, of course, went hand in hand with an increased number of double-parked delivery vans blocking traffic in urban areas and emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A new report proposes that logistics companies start parting ways with Read More...
Community input stretches the impact of Covid relief dollars
As $350 billion in Covid-19 relief funds make their way to cities and states, many are pondering the most impactful way to spend that money. Some, like Nashville, are putting towards affordable housing while others look at infrastructure or making up for lost tax revenue during the pandemic. To Read More...
Deloitte to provide climate education program to all its employees
While the number of big companies setting climate targets has grown rapidly in recent years, few of them have actually made climate change literacy a priority. That, however, is not the case for Deloitte, which has recently announced that it’s rolling out a new climate change-focused training Read More...
Spain puts plows on hold in favor of regenerative agriculture
The province of Jaén in southern Spain is known for its olive production. It’s called the sea of olives, with 70 million olive trees expanding in all directions—but despite this striking scene, the land has nothing else to offer. There are no other plants, flowers, or critters scurrying about Read More...
Ways to curb your fast fashion habit
Haven’t you heard? Sustainability is in style, while exploitative and wasteful consumerism is out. So why is it so difficult for the fashion industry to catch up with the trends? In the past, many of us would go clothes shopping to buy cheap garments with short lifespans that we end up Read More...
Dole is partnering with Piñatex to scale up vegan leather production
A few months ago we wrote a story about Piñatex, an innovative company turning pineapple leaves into vegan, petroleum-free leather products. Now, food giant and pineapple distributor Dole Sunshine Company has partnered with Piñatex to minimize waste from their operations and scale-up Read More...
Simple parking policy incentivizes employees to take greener routes to work
A key goal of public transportation is to reduce the number of cars on the road and therefore improve air quality and reduce emissions, especially in urban areas, but a small detail in the US federal tax code is actually working against this goal. The federal tax code has an exemption for Read More...
This river revitalization plan prioritizes underprivileged communities in LA
Urban green spaces have historically been more accessible to privileged communities within cities. However, there has been a surge in awareness and activism that calls cities to address the inequity in access to these spaces, as clean air and access to nature is a human right, not only to be Read More...