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.
Roads are being built using tons of recycled plastic waste
The road to a world with less plastic waste could come in the form of, wait for it, new roads. Dow Chemical, one of the world’s largest plastic producers, has started building roads using a combination of asphalt and plastic waste. In the past month, the company has constructed two private roads Read More...
Engineers are reimagining the world without concrete
After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on the planet (say what?). Here's another crazy fact: concrete is responsible for up to 8 percent of global carbon emissions. That means that if it were a country, it would be the world’s worst culprit after the US and China. The good news Read More...
To prevent human-bear conflict, wildlife rangers are turning to dogs
When dozens of polar bears descend upon the northern Russian archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, no one was sure what to do. The bears entered homes and public buildings, and people were afraid to go outside. But polar bears are an endangered species, and the federal government has refused to issue Read More...
You must see the winning photos from this underwater photography contest
Even if you have traveled to every piece of land on the planet, in reality, you’ve only seen 30 percent of the Earth’s surface. That’s because the remaining 70 percent is covered by the ocean—much of which has yet to be explored. Massive, majestic, and mysterious, seeing imagery of life in Read More...
Charcoal-coated seeds could help reverse deforestation in Kenya
Deforestation is an immense problem for the Kenyan people. Each year, a staggering 120,000 acres of forests are lost due to illegal logging and urbanization. That also leads to a serious water shortage in the country because trees collect, filter, and release rain into streams and rivers. In an Read More...
Disassembling munitions and recycling them is finally possible
Getting rid of obsolete or out of date munitions such as grenades and warheads has been a major problem ever since the invention of gunpowder. Up until relatively recently, the only alternatives have been to explode them, bury them, burn them, or dispose of them at sea. None of these are ideal and Read More...
A Dutch company is dyeing textiles without water or chemicals
When it comes to fashion water is no drop in the bucket. Conventional textile dyeing uses anywhere from 25 to 40 gallons for every two pounds of fabric. Globally, the water used in textile production adds up to about 24.56 trillion gallons each year, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Read More...
Costa Rica pledges to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050
Costa Rica may be one of the top nations when it comes to climate action, but that's not stopping the Central American nation from upping their game. Recently, Costa Rica laid out a long-term plan to achieve zero emissions by 2050 in an attempt to help decarbonize the world economy and curb global Read More...
These machines transform discarded sea food waste into bioplastics
A quartet of designers have developed a series of machines that turn seafood waste into a biodegradable and recyclable bioplastic. What the machines do is they transform the shells of crustaceans into a paper-like material that could act as a sustainable alternative to single-use plastics. Each one Read More...
Why badgers and otters are staging a comeback in Britain
When policymakers come together and create conservation laws that are well-thought-out, it’s amazing what it can do in the real world. Just take a look at Britain where badgers, otters, and other furry carnivores are staging a spectacular comeback after the government clamped down on hunting and Read More...