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.
Why it’s time to get rid of lawns, the No.1 irrigated “crop” in America
Is there a greater symbol of life in suburban America than the lawn? Probably, but the point is that lawns are incredibly common for households in the U.S. That’s a problem since lawns are awful for the planet. Our addiction to lawns means that grass is the single largest irrigated agricultural Read More...
Next-generation plastic can be recycled over and over again into new materials
Plastic is useful and ubiquitous – but that's not always a good combination. The vast majority of plastic waste can't be recycled, meaning it ends up in landfills at best or the ocean at worst. To help curb the problem, researchers at Berkeley Lab have designed a recyclable plastic – called Read More...
An Ode to the Marvelous Mushroom
By Amelia Buckley August 14th marked the first day of the sold-out 39th annual Telluride Mushroom Festival in Aspen, Colorado, which sold more tickets this year than ever. Mushrooms gained a reputation in the 1970s as a vehicle for psychedelic exploration, but these fungi friends are not just Read More...
America’s first all-electric vessels will soon start operating at Niagara Falls
For decades, tourists have been able to get up close and personal with the roaring waters of Niagara Falls by getting on board one of the Maid of the Mist ferries. Soon they will be able to do this in a more environmentally-friendly manner thanks to a pair of all-electric boats that will not only Read More...
Pedestrians are taking over the streets of traffic-filled Brussels
Right now, there can be an almost eerie calm to some sections of central Brussels. Take an evening stroll down Boulevard Anspach, the broad avenue that forms the Belgian capital’s spine, and you may find the roadway empty, its limestone and wrought-iron facades echoing the footsteps of a rare Read More...
Carbon capturing ‘mechanical trees’ to be deployed across the US
Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably know the world needs to urgently cut the amount of carbon dioxide dumped into the atmosphere. One way to make a serious dent is carbon capture - a group of technologies that has been gaining momentum lately, and has been cited by the United Read More...
California restaurants are incentivizing eco-friendly farming with surcharge
Restaurants in California are banding together to fight climate change in an intriguing way. Concerned eateries can sign on to the Restore California Renewable Restaurant program, which pledges to add a 1% surcharge to diners' bills and then use the money to incentivize farmers to implement more Read More...
Endangered sea turtles are making a comeback in the Pacific Ocean
Amidst the seemingly endless stream of bad news we hear about the world’s oceans on a daily basis, here’s some good news: According to a new survey of sea life in the Pacific Ocean, endangered green sea turtles are making a lively comeback as populations along dozens of coral reefs in waters Read More...
The UK just announced a climate change emergency. Here’s why that matters
Before any concrete action can be taken on climate change by governments, the threat of climate change should at least be recognized officially. Last week, the UK became the first country in the world to declare a climate change emergency, taking their recognition of the threat that climate change Read More...
Single-use plastics have been banned from all cultural events in Prague
Although festivals can be good fun, for some reason people tend to treat festival grounds with reckless abandon, leaving plastic waste all over the place. The world famous Glastonbury Festival in England has banned all single-use plastic bottles earlier this year to help combat the problem, and now Read More...