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.
We can turn the whole economy carbon neutral. Here's how
If the world is to meet the Paris climate agreement objective of limiting global warming to well below 2° C, it will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and industrial system to net zero across the world by around 2060. That is undoubtedly technical possible and at a relatively Read More...
French court cancels Monsanto weedkiller permit on safety grounds
A French court canceled the license for one of Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weedkillers on Tuesday over safety concerns, placing an immediate ban on Roundup Pro 360 in the latest legal blow to the Bayer-owned Read More...
Solar farms could help reverse the alarming decline in pollinators
Researchers see potential in planting more wildflowers on solar farms to help reverse the worrying declines in bees, butterflies and other key pollinating insects observed in recent years. Solar panel sites are expected to take up six million acres of land before 2050. Scientists see this as an Read More...
Students at university in Pakistan have to plant one tree in order to graduate
Students at a university in Pakistan have to plant a tree in order to graduate. Under the new rule, the clearance form for the degree will bear an additional column pertaining to tree plantation. The graduation requirement follows a national campaign called ‘Clean and Green Pakistan’ launched a Read More...
This non-profit is reviving world’s largest trees to help fight climate change
The Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a US nonprofit, is on a quest of propagating the world’s most important old growth trees before they are gone, to help fight climate change. Arborists from the nonprofit are archiving the genetics of ancient trees in living libraries by cloning the saplings Read More...
See how this non-profit is using the blockchain to clean up the Niger delta
Cleaning up the oil spills along the Niger Delta is no quick or easy task. Yet for one 501(c)(3) non-profit it's dedicated to alleviating the oil spill issues by Shell and other companies, which are impacting people's lives, through the use of the Read More...
The Guardian’s packaging is now entirely made out of compostable material
The Guardian becomes the first newspaper in Britain to ditch polythene covers for alternative compostable material made from potato starch. The British daily newspaper said the wrap was suitable for domestic composting and designed to “completely compost within six months in a well-maintained Read More...
180 years after Darwin: Iguanas are coming back to Galápagos once again
Santiago Island, part of the Galápagos archipelago, sees its first iguanas almost two centuries after the herbivorous lizards have been wiped out by the introduction of predators like the feral pig. The last recorded sighting of iguanas on the island was made by Charles Darwin in 1835. Now, almost Read More...
Waste minimization law could force manufacturers to make products last longer
The European Union and some states in the US are considering waste minimization laws that could force manufacturers to repair products in the case they break down and also to make the goods more durable in the first place. The initiative comes amid a growing backlash against impervious products, Read More...
The surprising impact of paper receipts
A new bill in California would make digital receipts the default; here's why it's a big Read More...