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.
How old coffee grounds can give your home garden a boost
Whether you make your daily cup of coffee with a French press, a pour-over Chemex, or a classic coffee maker, you probably find yourself with a surplus of coffee grounds pretty often. Throwing these down the sink can lead to some serious plumbing problems and throwing them in the trash will cause Read More...
Pee could help feed the world
Humans create a lot of waste. Whether that’s electronic, agricultural, medical, or fuel waste, we have a lot to dispose of. Coming up with creative ideas to use this waste to our advantage could be what saves the Earth and everything that lives on it from the climate crisis. An idea catching Read More...
Ole-Kristian Sivertsen: revitalizing deserts with nano clay
Climate change is drastically changing global weather patterns. Wet places are getting wetter, and dry places are getting drier. The human-caused degradation of dry land known as desertification is growing across farmlands, such as in California. The state is one of the country's largest producers Read More...
Children's growth and nutrition aren't compromised by a veggie diet
It has long been thought that vegetarianism in children can hurt their growth and nutrition as they are missing out on key nutrients that only meat can offer, such as protein and iron. A new St. Michael's Hospital of Unity Health Toronto and TARGet Kids! study has disproven this assumption, Read More...
UN experts and analysts plan to reinvigorate the “Great Green Wall”
The African Great Green Wall is a titanic ambition to restore an 8,000 square kilometer expanse across the continent, from Djibouti in the East to Senegal in the West. In the face of increasing desertification from climate change, the initiative aims to restore 100 million hectares (386,000 square Read More...
This newly developed “heat battery” could make millions of homes gas-free
After 12 years of research and development, a team of scientists from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands believes that their “heat battery” can soon get millions of homes in Europe off of their gas dependency—and considering the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, this Read More...
Indian court rules in favor of “mother nature’s” rights
It’s hard to describe the growth of an environmental movement without an inappropriate natural disaster metaphor: a wave of legislation, laws spreading like wildfire, or a mighty wind of change. None of those feel quite right, but the wave — darn it — for nature’s rights is moving fast and Read More...
How beneficial bacteria could help protect corals from bleaching
With water temperatures rising as a result of climate change, corals are finding it increasingly difficult to survive. Probiotics could help provide a potential solution to help these crucial marine ecosystems become more resilient against stresses related to climate change. A team of researchers Read More...
This Louisiana startup turns glass into sand and increases climate resiliency
There is seemingly no end to the variety and ingenuity scientists and researchers have when it comes to recycling. They have taken plastic waste and treated it to absorb CO2. They have taken human waste and turned it into viable renewable energy. Louisiana startup Glass Half Full is turning Read More...
US announces $3 billion electric vehicle battery production
We at The Optimist Daily are enormous electric vehicle fans, and we’re not the only ones. Demand for electric vehicles has risen so sharply around the world that manufacturers and supply chains are struggling to keep up. To help things along, state and federal governments are stepping up to Read More...