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.
The EPA will limit methane emissions from gas and oil facilities
As a result of the Paris Agreement, the U.S and Canada pledged to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. Now they have taken their first big steps to fulfilling this pledge as both countries announced they will limit methane emissions from existing oil Read More...
Bacteria that can eat plastic
More than 220 million tons of plastic are produced each year, and despite greater emphasis on recycling programs, much of it gets dumped in landfills and oceans around the world. The U.S., for example, only recycles about 14 percent of the nearly 33 million tons of plastic containers and Read More...
How a Brexit would end British high animal welfare standards
As the EU referendum debate rages on, with conflicting facts and assertions flung both ways, it's worth taking a step back and thinking of the positive things we have achieved together in Europe. So often, they remain unseen and unacknowledged. Take the protection of animals. The EU now has some of Read More...
JPMorgan becomes the latest to divest from coal to combat climate change
The big banks of Wall Street follow where the money goes, and right now, its certainly not in coal. JPMorgan Chase became the latest big pack to pull back from coal, joining a growing list of financial institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. It’s part of a broader Read More...
Hidden cellphones in the rainforest are exposing illegal logging practices
illustrates the problem vividly: 48 football fields worth of rainforest are destroyed every minute. It's startling, but Topher White might have a partial solution. White is the CEO of Rainforest Connection, a startup that collects old smartphones, retrofits them with solar panels, sticks Read More...
Solar farms to create natural habitats for threatened species
Most large-scale solar installations are placed on natural lands where the sunlight can best be captured, and that may actually be a benefit to the wildlife living in that habitat. Wildlife charity RSPB and clean tech company Anesco have created a project to boost threatened wildlife at the Read More...
How carbon dioxide from the air can boost batteries
Researchers employ a novel electrochemical process to make carbon nanotubes from ambient carbon dioxide and use them to boost battery performance. by Mike Orcutt March 7, 2016 Sponsored by There is little economic incentive to capture carbon dioxide from power-plant exhaust or suck it directly from Read More...
New tech could give coal a scrubbing until renewables are ready
No matter how you feel about coal, you can’t deny that it is very dirty stuff. Nor can you argue that our electrified society is anywhere near ready to run without it. Until renewables scale up and become storable—available after sunset and between breezes, in other words—coal Read More...
Energizer introduces rechargeable batteries made from recycled cells
Energizer was the first company to create disposable batteries from recycled cells, and now they have created rechargeable versions of those batteries. The company has introduced new Recharge AA and AAA batteries that take material from used power packs, including those from hybrid cars. At the Read More...
How ‘natural geoengineering’ can help slow global warming
As natural wonders go, perhaps the most awe-inspiring is the annual migration of 1.2 million wildebeest flowing across East Africa’s vast Serengeti grassland. It would be a tragedy to lose these animals. But we almost did in the mid-20th century when, decimated by disease and poaching, their Read More...