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.
Seasteading: Come for the algae bacon, stay for the freedom
Joe Quirk is the president of the Seasteading Institute, which hopes to see the world’s oceans settled with hundreds of environmentally restorative floating cities. The first steps in that process are currently underway. “We’re going to start very small with sustainable floating islands in Read More...
2018 is the year that big businesses start ushering in the circular economy
Circular economy solutions not only benefit the environment, but can also generate more money for companies. 2018 will show more and more large corporations reusing waste that would have ended up in landfills. A brilliant example of this comes from HP, which is taking used ink cartridges and Read More...
Wildflower planting on farms boosts birds, from skylarks to starlings
Planting wildflowers and protecting nests on farms enables birds, from skylarks to starlings, to bounce back rapidly from long-term declines, new research shows. Intensive agriculture has led to overall farmland bird numbers in the UK Read More...
Fighting climate change, one laundry load at a time
A Danish biotechnology company is trying to fight climate change — one laundry load at a time. Its secret weapon: mushrooms like those in a dormant forest outside Read More...
The 4 things that need to be addressed to make 2018 a successful climate year
Extreme natural disasters sadly became the norm in 2017, and there is little doubt climate change played a role in them. To limit global warming to two degrees, the main goal set in the Paris agreement on climate, experts say that emissions will have to peak and begin to sharply decline in 2020. Read More...
The world’s largest carbon-trading market is being set up in China
In a bid to help meet its ambitious climate change and clean energy targets, China is methodically building the world’s largest trading system. China has been testing out city-level carbon-trading projects, and is using the data gathered from these projects to build its carbon trading system Read More...
A scientist working on plants that fight climate change just won a $3 million prize
Plant scientist Joanne Chory has $3 million more than she did last week. Chory was awarded one of the prestigious 2018 Breakthrough Prizes in life sciences, an award given out annually to scientists by Silicon Valley tycoons including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Facebook creator Mark Read More...
Welcome to 'the cleanest village in India'
It bills itself as the "God's Own Garden," and this tribal village tucked in India's remote northeast is unlike any other in the country. Mawlynnong is free from what plagues so much of rural and urban India: litter, burning garbage and open Read More...
The founder of Patagonia just dropped the mic on Congress
We are currently seeing the largest reversal of national monument protections in U.S history. No one is happy with this, and nobody has flaunted their disapproval more vehemently in public than the sustainable clothing brand Patagonia. Take a look here at this scathing letter that Patagonia Read More...
Taxing people based on their energy footprint could help curb climate change
The wealthy enjoy the luxury of being able to easily travel around the world, import fine goods, and purchase whatever else they might desire. Such a lifestyle requires much capital, and more importantly, much energy consumption. Rarely do we think about how badly the lifestyles of those within the Read More...