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.
Chemical that gives pine trees their smell could be used to make renewable plastic
Plastic is an incredibly useful and versatile material, but it's also become a plague to the earth because of the large amount of disposable plastics thrown away every day that wind up in landfills and our oceans. On top of that, it's made from petroleum, a fossil fuel, which adds to its Read More...
Recycling 2.0: Scientists discover a plastic-eating bacteria
Plastic pollution is a big problem. The good news is that a research team has finally found a microbe that eats plastic. Unlike natural polymers (such as cellulose in plants) plastics aren’t biodegradable. Bacteria and fungi co-evolved with natural materials, coming up with new biochemical Read More...
California sets the most ambitious climate goal in the U.S.
California doesn’t care what the new federal global warming policies in Washington D.C. may be and has set the most ambitious goal to cut carbon emissions in the U.S. According to the newly released plan emissions will be cut 40 percent over 1990 levels by 2030. “We’ve got the scientists, Read More...
Bringing a breath of fresh air to the UK’s polluted cities
Featuring a sturdy leather head-strap and mask, two large tubes and a transparent backpack containing a small potted plant, designer Chih Chiu’s response to crowded, polluted cities is stark. “My initial idea was to separate an individual from the public space,” he says. Read More...
As Trump enters office, China claims Paris climate deal leadership
After all, it’s the country of yin and jang. So, it makes sense that China begins profiling itself as the leader in the fight against global warming at the very moment that Donald Trump takes office. In an address to the United Nations in Geneva president Xi Jinping said that the Paris climate Read More...
Norway spurs $400 million rainforest fund
Norway on Thursday said it will raise $400 million to encourage Brazil's farmers to stop destroying the rainforests, launching a fund also backed by food giants Unilever and Nestle. Announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the plan is a major effort to reform harmful small-scale Read More...
Everything you ever wanted to know about plastic-free diapers
At the beginning, using reusable cloth diapers can be a bit of a puzzle to figure out, but worry not! We’ve cracked the code and its actually pretty easy once you get the ball rolling. This blog post runs through the most important things you need to know about reusable cloth diapers. We Read More...
Another European city has announced plans to ban cars from its center
With smog levels on the rise in Madrid, the mayor of the Spanish capital is making plans to ban cars from its busiest street—Gran Via, a congested road that slices through the city center. Madrid has already pedestrianized a few smaller streets, but this is the first major way where cars will be Read More...
Unilever to make packaging all of its products fully recyclable by 2025
Consumer goods giant Unilever has pledged to ensure that all of the plastic packaging from its products will be “fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025”. Unilever, which owns brands such as Dove, Ben & Jerry’s and Marmite, has already committed to reducing the weight of the Read More...
World’s largest CO2 sink stores 27,000 grams of carbon per square meter
Natural areas that capture and store carbon on Earth are becoming an increasingly precious resource, and researchers may have found the mother of all of these in an unlikely place – a small bay in Denmark they claim holds a world-record amount of Read More...