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.
Wind farms less harmful to seabirds than first thought
Wind farms are far less harmful to birds that first thought, the biggest ever study has shown because seabirds actively change their flight path to avoid them. Researchers used radar and video to monitor seabirds flying near the Vattenfall’s Thanet offshore wind farm in the English Channel Read More...
Gas prices in the US are remarkably low. You just don’t realize it
If you’re complaining about the rising cost of gasoline in the US, it’s time you get a little perspective; Americans pay the second-lowest price for gasoline among major world economies, with one liter of gas costing about $0.79. Compare that with $1.1 paid by Australians, the third-lowest Read More...
The tea industry is finally removing plastics from their teabags
Clipper Teas—a UK tea brand that champions the unbleached teabag—has announced it will stop using synthetic sealants in its teabags. The tea brand becomes the latest company to pledge to eliminate polypropylene from their teabags, which is used to ensure bags hold their shape. Tea-giant Read More...
A plan for New York city’s forests. Yes, forests
Sarah Charlop-Powers was comparing New York City’s forests to its subways. The city has more than 840 miles of tracks for one. It has 10,542 acres of the other, about half as much as the Congaree Swamp in South Carolina, a small national park with an old-growth forest and, according to the Read More...
Scientists have found a bacterium that might be able to clean up oil spills
Oil spills are serious environmental hazards that are extremely difficult to clean up. Thankfully, we may be getting closer to finding a way to effectively clean up oil spills after scientists discovered a little bacterium that chows down on the hydrocarbons that make up oil. Now the researchers Read More...
New Zealand government says will not issue new oil, gas exploration permits
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday that her government would not grant any new permits for offshore oil and gas Read More...
Colombia takes 'unprecedented' step to stop farms gobbling forests
Indigenous communities that depend on Colombia’s Amazon rainforest for their survival will have more say over their ancestral lands, as Colombia adds 8 million hectares to its protected areas in an effort to stem forest loss. The new measures announced by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Read More...
Weatherwatch: overheating cities take steps to cool down
Light-coloured roads and rooftop gardens are planning measures being employed to combat rising urban Read More...
A grass-roots movement for healthy soil spreads among farmers
In American farm country, a grass-roots movement is spreading, a movement to keep more roots in the soil. (Not just grass roots, of course; roots of all kinds.) Its goal: Promoting healthy soil that's full of Read More...
Massive source of ‘missing’ nitrogen could revolutionize climate change projections
'This runs counter the centuries-long paradigm that has laid the foundation for the environmental sciences,' say researchers behind Read More...