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.
World Food Prize goes to scientist tacking climate change head on
The World Food Prize is a coveted award recognizing people who have increased the quantity, quality, and availability of food for the world. This year's winner is a scientist and former farmer Cynthia Rosenzweig, who plans to donate all her $250,000 winnings to research on climate change and Read More...
Eight reusable essentials for your kitchen
Most of us recycle, and many of us compost our food waste, but there are still so many single-use products we feel we can’t avoid using and then chucking in the garbage once we’re done. We want to live sustainably, and the kitchen is a great place to do this, yet our trash cans still fill up Read More...
How e-bikes are transforming New York City
New transportation technologies literally transform cities. Beyond the obvious construction of subways, the innovation of the automobile gave rise to the prevalence of suburbs, industrial areas outside of cities, and the remodeling of American streets. We might soon see a similar change in Read More...
Europe’s largest floating solar park to open in Portugal this summer
Last month we wrote about Greece unveiling Europe’s largest double-sided solar farm. Now another European country is about to claim a significant achievement in the race towards renewables: building the continent’s largest floating solar park. The solar park will be located in Portugal’s Read More...
How native stingless bees help maintain the rainforest and local communities
Our appreciation for pollinators has grown exponentially as we learn more about our environments and the importance of even the smallest creatures in the grander scheme of things. However, we still have much to discover about the different species and the specific roles they play. For biologist, Read More...
Rare highfin dragonfish spotted by MBARI researchers
Some creatures’ adaptations help them camouflage so well that, along with predators, naturalists and researchers find it hard to spot them. This is the case with the rare highfin dragonfish (Bathophilus flemingi), which researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have Read More...
7 tips for sustainable and affordable college life
For our college student readers, you might already be tired of people telling you that you are the future of our society. Well, you are, but you don’t need to wait until you’re out in the workforce to make a difference in the world. Socially and environmentally conscious behavior can begin Read More...
Stanford’s first new school in decades is dedicated to the climate crisis
For the first time in 70 years, Stanford University is opening a new school—The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, a school dedicated solely to studying the climate crisis. The doors of Stanford’s school of sustainability will open this fall, an event made possible by generous Read More...
New 2D material could change the game in batteries and electronics
Scientists and researchers are tackling climate change resilience and the growth of the renewable energy fields every day with new developments such as heat batteries and travel-size desalination units. A team from the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering has developed a new Read More...
A microwave network could make the internet faster and more climate resilient
For many of us, our homes have become our offices, our entertainment centers, and they were even where we socialized during the Pandemic. All of this is possible to do from the comfort of our homes because of the internet, and when doing so much online, speed matters. On paper, the internet Read More...