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.
Volunteers in New Zealand rescue stranded pilot whales in two-day effort
A pod of 49 long-finned pilot whales was found stranded on a remote beach on the South Island of New Zealand on Monday, prompting wildlife rangers to initiate a mission to keep the whales alive and in deep waters. With the rangers joined by local residents and a whale rescue group, a total of 150 Read More...
Triumph the koala can now run freely after dentist designs prosthetic foot
When a veterinarian nurse in New South Wales found a baby koala in 2017, the animal only had three feet, hampering it from walking and climbing freely. But recently, the male koala, named Triumph, has been climbing and running happily thanks to a prosthetic made by a neighborhood dentist. Marley Read More...
Facebook to add new labels to posts about climate change
Facebook has come under a firestorm of criticism in recent years for its failure to clamp down on misleading information, especially when it comes to the subject of climate change. In response, Facebook has announced that it will start labeling posts about climate change with a banner that will Read More...
Indonesia provides a roadmap for halting deforestation
Deforestation continues to be one of the biggest environmental crises facing our world but looking at countries with effective deforestation mitigation policies can help us map out what saving the earth’s forests looks like on a global scale. One country that serves as a case study for turning Read More...
12 Creative ways to reduce your food waste at home
Many people are embarking on more cooking adventures during the pandemic, but if you’re becoming a well-seasoned home chef, you might also notice your food waste is increasing. The production of wasted food alone is equivalent to 37 million cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions. Cutting Read More...
Rival Dutch cities create tile-removing competition to expand green space
In the Netherlands, an age-old rivalry exists between the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This rivalry can turn ugly, especially when the city’s voetbal (soccer) teams play each other. Recently, however, the rivalry has been channeled in order to spur excitement about a new initiative Read More...
How well-placed wetlands could dramatically cut nitrogen pollution
Nitrogen runoff from agriculture is a major problem, polluting our waterways and causing algae blooms that damage aquatic ecosystems. Wetlands offer a powerful buffer to nitrogen runoff as they serve as a natural filter to nutrient-polluted water, but we need to restore more wetlands in order to Read More...
More and more Native American tribes are buying back their ancestral land
When the Klamath Tribes of southern Oregon purchased a 1,705-acre patchwork of meadows, wetlands, and timberland that had once belonged to them this past summer, it represented the latest example of Native American tribes taking back their homelands via the real estate market. The loss of Native Read More...
NYC’s High Line park to inspire similar urban renewal project in London
Recently, we shared a story about the expansion of New York’s High Line park, which has been a symbol of urban renewal after it successfully transformed an abandoned railway track into a lively green area — making it one of the city’s main tourist attractions. Now the High Line’s designer, Read More...
Senators introduce bill to ban fracking in California
While California is known for its progressive reputation on environmental issues, oil continues to be produced in the state using destructive methods such as fracking and acid well stimulation. To put an end to these environmentally-damaging practices, California state senators have introduced a Read More...