Environment
Need some good news about the environment? The Optimist Daily is your go-to herald of positive environmental news, highlighting eco-friendly solutions and scientific progress around climate action, circularity, conservation, and more. Learn about everything eco in our Environment section.
Somerset House welcomes trees into its courtyard for the first time
London’s acclaimed Somerset House was designed based on the principles of the Enlightenment and has maintained that aesthetic ever since — until now. Traditionally, trees and anything with leaves was forbidden in the Somerset House courtyard based on the building’s founding principles. Read More...
Ancient "mini-Pompeii" discovered beneath abandoned Italian cinema
During an excavation of a former cinema in the northern Italian city of Verona, the renovation team made a valuable and surprising discovery. Beneath the abandoned Astra Teatro, which is currently undergoing renovation after lying unused for more than two decades, was the hiding place of an Read More...
This innovative plant proves that polystyrene isn't impossible to recycle after all
Did you know that styrene naturally occurs in foods like strawberries and cinnamon? It’s only when it’s combined with other chemicals to create packaging and foam insulation to protect fragile items in transit does it become polystyrene — that white, staticky, and virtually Read More...
Scientists discover two cat-size squirrel species living in the Himalayas
Researchers from Australia have discovered two new species of the woolly flying squirrel, one of the world’s rarest mammals, in the Himalayan mountains. Scientists have known about the woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus) for a long time, which, at five pounds and three feet long, is one Read More...
Oyasai all-natural crayons are made with vegetable waste
The modern environmental movement urges us to assess the environmental impact of everything in our lives, including day-to-day items like school supplies. In an attempt to reduce waste and introduce sustainability to children at a young age, Japanese company Mizuiro, Inc., has figured out a way Read More...
Rare orchids found growing in London rooftop garden
Until this week, the small-flowered tongue-orchid hadn’t been seen in the UK in over 30 years. That all changed when a colony of the small orchids was found on a London rooftop, a shock to its owners and naturalists. The collection of 15 delicate blooms was found in Nomura International's Read More...
Scientists discover 5 million years of climate change records in Kazakhstan
After making the precarious descent into the Charyn Canyon in Kazakhstan, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany discovered a practically unbroken record of climate change in an 80-meter-thick layer of sediment. This ancient slab of earth and rock provides Read More...
This self-healing concrete fixes its own cracks to last longer
Concrete is responsible for around nine percent of global CO2 emissions — that’s three times more than the airline industry. Those emissions come from the material’s production and transportation, as well as repairs associated with its degradation. Though some innovators are working on Read More...
Mr. Trash Wheel is keeping Baltimore’s Harbor free of trash
Trash interceptors have become an increasingly popular tool in our efforts to help prevent plastic waste from escaping into the ocean. More than a year ago, we shared a story about some of the most popular projects around the world using interceptors to capture plastics in rivers. Among them was Read More...
North Carolina is turning old industrial buildings into new community spaces
As many industries shift to meet modern market demands, regions that used to be bustling centers for coal, oil, steel, and other raw materials are now falling into economic despair. Many experts have cited new renewable energy jobs as a solution to this problem, but in some North Carolina towns, Read More...