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.
Germany's green power output has grown by a third in three years
Germany keeps leading the transition to renewable energy in Europe. In the first six months of this year, the country produced enough clean energy to power all German households for an entire Read More...
Recycling breakthrough: this process turns 10 plastic bags into liquid in 3 hours
Yesterday, we published the news about plastic eating bacteria that can help solve the plastic pollution crisis. Today, there's another breakthrough: a company has been able to create a chemical process that turns plastic bags into a liquid that can be a resource for other chemical processes. It Read More...
Lessons in recycling: take this quiz
This is a familiar problem for many people: you stand in front of the trash cans but with your best intentions you don't know where the paper cup or the plastic bag in your hands belong. Take this quiz and it may be easier for you next time. The colors of the cans may vary from country to country Read More...
Seattle just became the first major city to ban plastic straws
Seattle just became the first major U.S. city to officially ban plastic straws and utensils. The new requirement, which went into effect on July 1, effectively bans local businesses from using plastic utensils and straws, under penalty of a $250 fine. Seattle had banned the use of non-recyclable, Read More...
Natural solution: Plastic-eating bacteria could solve global pollution crisis
The problem of plastic pollutions has been dominating environmental headlines for months. Now, a student at a college in Oregon in the United States may have found one of the most promising solutions: bacteria capable of “eating” plastic and breaking it down into harmless by-products. Much Read More...
Whale made with 10,000 lbs. of plastic waste emerges from canal
Plastic waste is a huge problem -- every minute, a garbage truck's worth of plastics ends up in our oceans, contaminating marine ecosystems, clogging up coastlines and very likely ending up in what becomes our Read More...
This sixth-grade inventor built a robot to hunt ocean plastic
One of the finalists in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, Anna Du’s robot is designed to use infrared light to help us understand just how badly our oceans are being ruined with Read More...
Urban trees store almost as much carbon per acre as rainforests
Cities are hardly perceived to be forests. However, many cities have more trees than people. British researchers looked at the London’s urban jungle and calculated that trees in the city store as much carbon per hectare as tropical rainforests. That makes planting trees in cities a major Read More...
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s climate plan is the only one that matches scientific consensus
In a major upset, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina democratic socialist from the Bronx, beat out the longtime US representative Joe Crowley in the New York primaries. In the overwhelmingly Democratic district, she is practically certain to win a seat in Congress during the general Read More...
Dutch parliament to set target of 95 percent CO2 reduction by 2050
The Dutch parliament will approve a law requiring the Netherlands to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent by 2050, compared with the level in 1990, lawmakers representing 75 percent of the seats in the Dutch Lower House said on Read More...