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.
Earth has higher terrestrial plant capacity than previously believed
Our planet can grow more plant life than previous calculations have predicted—but with a little help from humans. Researchers re-analyzed data that calculated the theoretical biomass limit, but this time took into account human intervention. As it turns out few plants in the natural world Read More...
Air is safest to breathe in more than 20 years
Contrary to what many people may think, the air quality in cities across the US has been getting better for many years. Since 1990 mercury released from human sources is down 60 percent, benzene—a toxic greenhouse gas—is down 66 percent, and lead pollution which impacts brain development has Read More...
Wood based construction emits significantly less CO2 than concrete or steel
While it is of the utmost importance to keep our forests intact, it is of equal importance to take a hardline at curbing CO2 emissions. A new study published in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry has found that concrete and steel based construction requires more energy to build and emits 10X the Read More...
India cleans waterways to increase food production
80,000 waterways in India aren’t usable because of pollution. That pollution stands in the way of a very necessary increase of food production. That’s why the Indian government has just announced $1 billion in funding to help clean the country’s waterways by 2017. The initiative will clean Read More...
Smog-eating paint helps clean the air in polluted cities
Millions of people die every year prematurely because of the air pollution that suffocates many modern cities. Getting rid of the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy is the ultimate perfect solution to this problem. In the mean time there are clever innovations like a paint that breaks down Read More...
Germany tops list of most energy efficient countries
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has been ranking the largest 16 economies in the world according to their energy efficiency. Germany leads the list and other European nations as well as Japan and even China and India beat the US. The ranking took into account national Read More...
Coal ban in China could bring clear skies in 2020
The pollution of China’s coal fired electricity plants travels around the globe and even reaches California on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. So it’s really good news that Beijing's Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau has announced a plan to ban all coal use in 2020. Coal is Read More...
10 reasons why we may beat the climate change challenge
Yes, we know most of the news about global warming is doom and gloom. But the tide is changing. The Guardian, normally not the most optimistic source for news, put together 10 reasons why we may beat the challenge of climate change. Some of the hopeful signs: According to an International Energy Read More...
Thawing arctic lakes absorb more greenhouse gases than they emit
Arctic lakes are thawing due to global warming and the currently held notion is that the loss of permafrost will release even more greenhouse gases—specifically methane—contributing further to climate change. A new study by the National Science Foundation, a government sponsored independent US Read More...
Barge designed to clean waterways
Many rivers, sees and oceans are terribly polluted. John Kellett of Clearwater Mills has come up with a solar-powered trash-collecting barge that is essentially a giant conveyor belt that scoops up trash from waterways, and then deposits it in an onboard dumpster. The new trash collecting Read More...