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.
Forest conservation takes off
Tropical forest regeneration is ramping up in a bid to boost conservation globally. Monitoring regeneration can be labor intensive and expensive, making it difficult to know whether conservation efforts have been successful. However, manual monitoring isn’t the only option. Unmanned Read More...
This London underground farm grows salad in a WWII bomb shelter
Deep below the streets of London, something is growing in tunnels that once kept people safe from World War II bombs. One hint: It's leafy. Growing Underground is a company that makes "kilometer zero" eating possible in London, by growing salad in LED-lit, underground factories right beneath the Read More...
Could forests store more carbon as the climate warms?
Public lands are considered one of America’s best defenses against rising greenhouse gas emissions because the forests there pull vast quantities of carbon from the atmosphere and store it in tree trunks and roots. As the climate warms, public lands may become even more valuable in America’s Read More...
To build a greener economy, Bhutan wants to go organic by 2020
Farmer Phub Zam, 55, is in a hurry. Monsoon rains have hit her farm in Bhutan's Paro valley and Zam is rushing to harvest her broccoli before crop is damaged. "Of all my vegetables, broccoli is the most sought after," she said. "Each kilogram sells for 90 rupees ($1.40)." That's 15 to 30 cents more Read More...
Big business creates a new non-profit to help fix climate change
A growing number of influential business and government leaders now believe that it will be possible to expand the global economy while meeting our climate goals. But the real challenge is exactly how to do that? Decision makers, when grappling with climate change, often face mountains of detailed Read More...
Here are the U.N.'s global goals that will (hopefully) change the world in 15 years
The countries of the world to set ambitious (and perhaps impossible) goals for fixing our planet and society by 2030. By 2030, the world will be a vastly better and perhaps unrecognizable place. At least it will be if you believe that the world can even partly meet the United Nations' new Global Read More...
To build a greener economy, Bhutan wants to go organic by 2020
Farmer Phub Zam, 55, is in a hurry. Monsoon rains have hit her farm in Bhutan’s Paro valley and Zam is rushing to harvest her broccoli before crop is damaged. "Of all my vegetables, broccoli is the most sought after," she said. “Each kilogram sells for 90 rupees ($1.40)." That’s 15 to 30 Read More...
the Guardian
David Cameron says cash spread over five years will come out of foreign aid budget as he meets Ban Ki-moon and François Hollande at UNSunday 27 September 2015 12.00 EDTLast modified on Sunday 27 September 2015 12.03 EDTAlmost £6bn of the UK’s foreign aid budget will be spent on tackling climate Read More...
Paris goes car-free for a day on Sunday
Central Paris goes car-free on Sunday as part of its fight against air pollution, at a time when the Volkswagen emissions scandal again turns the spotlight on diesel and the air pollutants it produces. The French capital's central arrondissements and areas around landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower Read More...
Richard Branson—who owns 3 airlines—calls for a carbon tax
He owns three airlines, but he's still in favour of a carbon tax. Entrepreneur Richard Branson yesterday called for an end to subsidies for dirty fuels and oil drilling in the Arctic, and for a cap on coal and a carbon tax, saying that he is prepared to shoulder the short-term cost. In a meeting Read More...