Today’s Solutions: January 18, 2025

Education

Great minds lead to great solutions. Our education section features solutions and innovations directed at strengthening educational systems around the world.

Sesame Street characters in front of public library

Meet Sesame Street’s newest muppet

Here at The Optimist Daily, we are great admirers of the beloved children’s show Sesame Street. This educational program has expanded its representation to include muppets of a variety of backgrounds, abilities, and identities to show children how wonderful and diverse the people of our world Read More...

The Human library

The Human Library: reading people instead of books

Have you ever heard about someone living with a condition and wished you knew more? Maybe you were streaming a drama about someone living with a rare disease, or you read a piece that mentioned a particular trauma. Your human empathy kicked in and you wanted to know what it was like living as the Read More...

child happily holding home-grown vegetables

The climate victory garden movement is springing up all over America

A lot of people picked up vegetable gardening as a pandemic pastime, but what started as a casual time (and tummy) filler has become a mainstay for many Americans. According to Green America, an organization focused on encouraging people to grow their own food to fight climate change, offset Read More...

young medical students

Medical students demand better climate change education

Thanks to the continued efforts of the students at Emory Medical School, the school’s administration is making a revolutionary change to include climate change as a formal part of its curriculum.  The climate crisis isn’t just affecting the weather. While the more glaring signs of climate Read More...

Troy Kotsur poses for photo

Troy Kotsur becomes first deaf man to win an acting Oscar

Though Hollywood’s Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are often critiqued for their lack of representation, there has been progress in the most recent edition. This past weekend, we saw a beautiful example of inclusion during the 94th Academy Awards, as Troy Kotsur became the first deaf Read More...

comic-style graphic of woman reading comic

Marvel superhero tackles climate change and social injustice

There’s a new Marvel superhero in town, and she’s a Puerto Rican heroine pumped to tackle climate change, political corruption, and all the intertwined social injustices. In an upcoming installment of the graphic novel series La Boriqueña, the Nuyorican (a portmanteau that refers to Read More...

silhouette of a woman playing with her dog

How to keep your furry friends safe in an emergency

Having a pet is a rewarding experience but comes with plenty of new and perhaps unfamiliar responsibilities. For instance, figuring out how to handle extreme weather and natural disasters (which are increasing in frequency) can be particularly challenging. Here are some tips to help you and your Read More...

two young male friends chat with each other on a dock

Rusty social skills? 5 ways to reconnect with socialization

Now that there are more opportunities to go out and socialize, you may be experiencing some mixed emotions regarding social events. You may have thought to yourself as soon as these restrictions are over, I’m going to be a regular party animal. This could be especially true for those who've been Read More...

six friends sit in a row with books

3 tips to get the most out of your reading time

Reading is highly beneficial for our brains and gives our cognitive development a major boost, but as technology spins the world faster and faster, we are spending less time absorbed in books and more time scrolling. In our rush to read online content, we forget that it’s not necessarily how much Read More...

Creativity boost

6 surprising ways to boost your creativity

Creativity is an essential part of problem solving, communication, and for seeing how things are connected. Everyone can benefit professionally or personally from thinking outside the box from time to time. Whether you’re an engineer solving a problem on a medical testing system, a novelist with Read More...