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 green hydrogen is taking off
Hydrogen is key to a major energy shift in our society. Many sectors of the economy and the power grid can decarbonize by switching to green hydrogen. The market for hydrogen is expected to grow to $2.5 trillion by 2050, and many industries, such as air travel, see the writing on the wall. Read More...
Supporting beavers and our ecosystems
At The Optimist Daily, we’ve written a great deal about the benefits beavers bring to their environment and the importance of restoring their populations in certain areas. Beavers are often vilified in certain communities for the same reason they’re such iconic North American creatures: they Read More...
Kenyan sanctuary welcomes five mountain bongos
The average person hears the word “bongo” and thinks of a pair of small Afro-Cuban hand drums with which one can play fun and danceable rhythms. Bongos are also extremely rare antelopes native to Kenya that haven’t been spotted in the wild in almost 30 years. Bongos used to roam free Read More...
This is how we could clean our solar panels without water
The water footprint of solar power may rarely come to mind. It should because cleaning the dust off of photovoltaic panels requires hundreds of millions of gallons of water per year. In a bid to come up with a solution, MIT scientists have recently invented an alternative cleaning system that Read More...
To save money and gas, driving slower helps
Many of us take the speed limits on the side of the road as, well, more of a suggestion than a hard line never to cross. Whether on the highway or in midtown, many of us feel we’re losing time or just plain bored if we’re not in the fast lane. Gas prices are rising, though, and even when we Read More...
Scientists rediscover “comical” bat species feared extinct for 40 years
Scientists have sighted a critically endangered bat species in Rwanda that was feared extinct for more than 40 years since it was last seen. While they called it a delightful discovery. The researchers who found the Hill’s horseshoe bat in Rwanda’s Nyungwe forest said the bat remains highly Read More...
To watch out for predators, voles trim the grass around them
Here at The Optimist Daily, we commonly report on new ecological findings from animals all around the world. The more scientists uncover about the behavior and lives of the creatures we share the world with the better able we are to help them. Whether that’s uncovering snow monkeys incredible Read More...
Biodiversity means respecting animals' agency
Depending on where you live, there can be a great deal of concern about the local animals, wandering into the road or eating your garbage. For conservationists, there’s a concern for the animals themselves. Conservationists and wildlife managers these days are looking for new ways to protect wild Read More...
Italy approves 6 new wind farms to reduce reliance on Russian gas
Italy is determined to wean itself off of its dependence on Russian gas by giving the green light to construct six more wind farms with a capacity of 418 megawatts. According to a government statement, these new farms will be erected in the central and southern regions of Puglia, Basilica, and Read More...
Honduras puts a stop to open-pit mining
What is open-pit mining? Open-pit mining is one of the most common and also most harmful methods of extracting minerals from the Earth. Many countries and organizations are trying to do away with this practice because it involves enormous displacement of soil and causes a great deal of damage to Read More...