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.
The EU commits to its own “green deal”
The European Union will invest more than $270 billion in its own "green deal" in order to keep up with the United States and China. The growing green economy Many observers interpreted the move as a direct response to the Biden administration's hefty round of green subsidies, which were included Read More...
How to host a more sustainable super bowl party
This year, the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee in collaboration with NFL Green is working together to make this year’s Super Bowl as sustainable as possible. According to the Super Bowl Host Committee website, the team has been partnering with “local community organizations, parks, and Read More...
This ultra-thin coating can make solar panels self-cleaning
Solar panels cannot perform successfully if they are caked in filth, yet cleaning them on a regular basis can be time-consuming. Luckily, engineers in Germany are on the case and have created an ultra-thin coating that can self-clean solar panels and other surfaces. Solar is the most important Read More...
Study shows strong link between green spaces and less prescription drug use
According to new research, visits to parks, community gardens, and other urban green spaces may reduce city inhabitants' use of medicines for anxiety, sleeplessness, melancholy, high blood pressure, and asthma. Researchers in Finland discovered that visiting natural settings three to four times Read More...
Magnets rapidly remove dangerous "forever chemicals" from water
Australia-based scientists have devised an exciting new method for eliminating dangerous "forever chemicals" from water. When a solution is added to contaminated water, it covers the contaminants and renders them magnetic, allowing them to be easily attracted and isolated. Per- and Read More...
New solar panels harness the full light spectrum to improve crop yields
Crops and clean energy are increasingly sharing the same land as the globe struggles to deal with the climate problem and transitions to renewables and agrivoltaics — the cultivation of crops beneath the shade of solar panels. Scientists are now investigating how to harness the sun's light Read More...
US reveals the “Blueprint”: a plan to entirely decarbonize transportation
The United States Departments of Energy, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency have produced a much-needed Blueprint for decarbonizing the entire US transportation system. It is hoped that the policy will reduce all greenhouse gas emissions from the Read More...
Secrets of the sea: hidden underwater forests may help fight climate crisis
The Nature Conservancy's marine biologist Frank Hurd spends his days amongst gigantic kelp curtains, studying underwater forests. One of his usual diving haunts is a kelp forest off Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands national park's protected rocky volcanic islets off southern Read More...
UN report shows ozone layer may be fully restored within four decades
A United Nations assessment indicates that the ozone layer may recover within a few decades with the help of human intervention. According to the BBC, the analysis reveals that the 1987 multinational agreement to prohibit the use of dangerous chemicals that deplete the ozone layer was a Read More...
Tobacco companies in Spain now fit the bill for cigarette butt clean-up
Tobacco businesses will be obliged to pay for the cleanup of millions of cigarette ends discarded by smokers each year under new environmental legislation in Spain. The decision, which went into effect last week, is part of a package of waste-reduction and recycling efforts. It calls for the Read More...