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.
Britain wants to ramp up efforts in fight against climate change
Following the recent UN report that warns that we have one last chance to prevent a climate disaster, the British government is seeking to increase its efforts to achieve full-on carbon neutrality. The country’s current target of reducing carbon emissions by 2050 stands at 80 percent, but experts Read More...
How mushrooms can unlock a future of sustainable production
A sustainable innovation company is using the mycelia of mushrooms to help create anything from lab-grown meat to 3D-printed organs and biofabricated leather. Mycelia, the complex hair-like network of cells that grows in mushrooms, can be manipulated into high-performing materials that are both Read More...
Cleaning up: the world's worst plastic polluters ranked
In June and September 2018, more than 10,000 volunteers in 42 countries participated in events to tidy up their surrounding. Their main goal was to collect plastic waste and record the names of the brands that produced Read More...
Courts in Europe hold governments accountable for climate change policies
Courts in several European Union countries are holding governments accountable for their climate change policies. This week, a German court has stopped one of the country’s oldest forests from being cleared away to make space for a coal mine, and an appeals court in the Netherlands ordered Read More...
How climate change could be a spark to create a better world
One great taboo in the climate change debate is how much has improved over the past three decades: in public perception; in transnational consensus and determination; in scientific understanding and discovery. To stress, these things seem to ignore the urgency of the situation, minimize the scale Read More...
The Ocean Cleanup project has succeeded in first big challenge at sea
After undergoing virtually successful trials of its advanced technologies in the Pacific Ocean, Ocean Cleanup, the non-profit organization is now venturing onward on its journey of relieving our oceans of plastic. The project is now officially headed towards the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Read More...
To save a forest threatened by mining, this startup offered to buy it
Germany is working on plans to phase out coal, and the head of a large German energy company, RWE, has said that the company is “ready to abandon coal.” But before that happens, the company wants to cut down the remaining slice of a 12,000-year-old forest to expand a coal Read More...
Study in Ethiopia links healthy soils to more nutritious cereals
Large fields, predictable rainfall, and favorable temperatures have meant that farmers in Arsi Negele, a town in southeastern Ethiopia, have benefited from good crop yields. Their production of wheat and maize, two of the main food staples in Ethiopia, have also increased over Read More...
Why 2 degrees of global warming is way worse than 1.5 degrees
While the Paris Climate Agreement strives to keep global average temperatures below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the ultimate goal is to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. How important is that difference though? What might happen if the temperatures rise just 2 degrees higher? This Read More...
Copenhagen is winning the race to carbon neutral… on bikes
More than 70 major cities around the world have pledged to end their reliance on fossil fuels and become carbon neutral by 2050. However, Copenhagen aims to accomplish this goal in the next seven years. Bikes play a central role in the strategy of the Danish capital. While other cities have parking Read More...