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.
Switching to low-carbon technology provides economic opportunities for cities
The transition to renewable energy is good for the economy. In a study that examined cities spread over 89 nations, researchers found that making the shift to low-carbon technologies offers many cities with “significant economic opportunities”. In fact, the report found more than 1,000 economic Read More...
First steps of The Ocean Cleanup Plan are under way
Before cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can commence, researchers are flying over it at low-altitudes to get an account of just how much debris actually lies in the patch. What they have found so far is that it might just be worse than we originally thought, underlining the urgency needed Read More...
Paris climate agreement takes effect after EU approval
The landmark Paris climate change pact will enter into force around the world after European Union lawmakers endorsed the agreement. So far 62 nations had ratified the deal. However, they only represented 52 percent of global carbon emissions. The EU ratification pushed the Paris agreement past the Read More...
When it comes to the environment, it is in giving that countries will receive
St. Francis depicted in Giotto's 13th-Century painting Predica agli uccelli. Credits: christusrex.org. Even the most optimistic among us would not dispute that our world is currently in a desperate state. From climate change to armed conflict, from pollution to widespread inequality, humanity Read More...
The solar-powered mobile “Desertscraper” restores healthy vegetation in deserts
Desertification is a problem in many parts of the world as a result of rising populations and intensive agriculture. Each year, 12 million hectares of land are lost. Enter the Desertscraper. The Desertscraper is a design for a solar-powered mobile skyscraper that restores healthy vegetation in Read More...
New US Department of Energy charts show that we can win the climate change fight
This is the third day in a row that The Optimist Daily is reporting about the very rapid breakthroughs in the fields of renewable energy. The U.S. Department of Energy has just published this chart. In the past seven years, the costs of different clean energy technologies fell between 41 and 94 Read More...
Reykjavík: the geothermal city that aims to go carbon neutral
Reykjavík used to be marketed as a place of ‘pure energy’, run on geothermal power – and now Iceland’s capital is trying to become the world’s first carbon neutral city. Last month, Iceland became the one of the first countries to ratify the Paris climate deal with a unilateral Read More...
9 questions with eco architect William McDonough on the future of agriculture
We’re excited about urban farming here at Inhabitat, and we’ve been following the work of green architect William McDonough for years, through his groundbreaking Cradle to Cradle manifesto and book, to the inspiring Ford Factory renovation to the new Method Factory with sprawling Read More...
Soak it up: China’s ambitious plan to solve urban flooding with ‘sponge cities’
Can the might of the Chinese government overcome complex needs and investor disinterest to deliver an ambitious programme to save China’s 450 million urban inhabitants from floods? Flooding causes more economic, social and humanitarian damage than any other natural disaster and has affected Read More...
Call to close ivory market agreed upon at U.K wildlife conference
At the U.N wildlife conference in South Africa, a non-binding proposal to close all domestic ivory trade has been approved. While the international market in ivory has been closed since 1989, legal domestic markets have continued in many countries around the world. The move is not legally binding, Read More...