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.
This high-tech wood reflects sunrays and keeps homes cool
Conventional construction materials used for building our homes are most often inefficient. Cooling our houses during the warm season, for instance, usually requires a staggering amount of energy and associated carbon emissions. In an attempt to find a solution to this, scientists at the University Read More...
To spare the planet, we need to take more time off work
Time off isn’t so much a luxury, new research argues, as an urgent necessity. Working long hours on the job is bad for your health, raising your risk of stroke, heart attack, and depression. And to top it off, it’s also bad for the planet. According to a paper from Autonomy, a Read More...
Construction is underway for America’s first plastics-to-fuel plant
While eco-friendly alternatives to plastics are sorely needed, we also need better, cleaner methods of dealing with existing plastic waste. That’s why we’re glad to tell you that construction workers have broken ground on what is being hailed as the nation’s first commercial-scale Read More...
Full access to zero-waste goods will soon be the ultimate apartment amenity
A parking garage or high-speed Internet may be the apartment amenities that renters most desire these days, but in the near future, it might be having access to closed-loop consumerism. Brookfield Properties, a global property management firm, recently announced plans to partner with Loop, a new Read More...
The area around the Eiffel Tower in Paris is getting a green, car-free makeover
One of the world’s most recognizable urban spaces is slated to get a dramatic makeover. According to the plan, the currently car-filled bridge connecting the Eiffel Tower with the Métro subway system will be turned into a pedestrianized garden, stringing together a set of two new public squares Read More...
Human composting is officially legal in Washington State
A few weeks ago, we wrote about a bill in Washington state that wants to add an eco-friendly alternative to cremation or burial: human composting. Well, now that bill has been officially signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee. Traditional burial requires wood and steal and means leaking Read More...
Kids in Indian town pay their tuition fees with plastic waste instead of money
Used plastic is usually seen as a waste product, but for the students of a school in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, it is no less than a means to acquire free education. As a way to make school more accessible and help clean up their local community, the primary school of Akshar began to Read More...
US air quality is improving, and thousands of lives are being saved as a result
Ever since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, the air quality in America has improved dramatically. Subsequent amendments to the law and newer policies, like regulations on vehicle emissions and the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, have also reduced air pollution. The result? Since 2010, mortality Read More...
You have to see the brilliant symmetry of a bald eagle flying over a pond
You can be a wildlife photographer you’re entire life, and you probably won’t capture a photo as amazing as the one amateur photographer Steve Brio recently did. Sitting by a pond in Ontario, Canada, Mr. Biro spotted a bald eagle flying about. Or rather, the bald eagle spotted Read More...
Costa Rica is on a quest to become the first country to get rid of fossil fuels
Even though Costa Rica’s carbon footprint is tiny compared to other countries, the first lady of Costa Rica Claudia Dobles has a higher goal in mind: getting rid of fossil fuels altogether. When it comes to being green, Costa Rica already leads the pack. Electricity comes largely from renewable Read More...