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 Meteorological Organization welcomes new leader
Amanda Lynch has been appointed to chair the board of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This United Nations agency has four main focuses: weather, climate, water, and environment. They research many aspects of the Earth’s behavior to provide vital information to the organization's 193 Read More...
These sustainably powered homes can raise families out of poverty
Finding and sharing positive ways to tackle the world’s challenges is our favorite activity at The Optimist Daily, so it’s no surprise that we are especially excited about BillionBricks and Architecture Brio’s PowerHyde solar homes, as they tackle both the global housing issue and the climate Read More...
Sweden combats fake news with new agency
The pandemic brought on a host of problems; however, it also gave us the opportunity to pay more attention to other issues that flew under the radar while we were busy getting through our hectic pre-pandemic schedules. One of these concerns is the dominance of misinformation or “fake news.” Read More...
This ingenious solution tackles food waste and insecurity at once
Food waste is a particularly infuriating problem because so much is wasted. According to nonprofit FoodPrint, almost 40 percent of all food in America, much of it still edible, is chucked out. All while at least a tenth of the world’s population (around 800 million people) are struggling with Read More...
The rise in popularity of zero-waste stores
What are zero-waste stores? Zero-waste or refill stores, specialize in products with no packaging waste and are non-harmful for the environment. A wide variety of foods and household cleaning products can be found at many of these stores, with the hope in the future that mainstream supermarkets Read More...
Food waste prevention law takes effect in New York
According to estimates, the state of New York is responsible for about 7.8 billion pounds of food waste every year. That’s equivalent in weight to over 17,000 Statues of Liberty. In a bid to curb the humongous amount of organic waste that ends up in landfills, the state has recently joined the Read More...
Berlin plans to have the world’s largest car-free urban area
In recent years, many cities around the world have become much more aware of the plight of designing our urban spaces with a car-centric mentality. In Europe in particular, cities like Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, and Stockholm are well ahead when it comes to reclaiming urban space from cars in Read More...
Rapidly retrofitting old buildings is key for climate goals - Here's how to do it
Buildings account for about 40 percent of annual global carbon emissions. In order to meet our climate goals, every building on the planet will have to be net-zero by 2050. But since most of the current buildings will still exist then, a massive number of homes will have to undergo retrofits in Read More...
Using rubber to create safer, longer lasting EV batteries
Synthetic rubbers have been widely applied for many purposes, such as in tires, sealants, and wearable electronics. A study, from the Georgia Institute of Technology in collaboration with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has discovered a new use for the material in electric Read More...
This market is tossing "use-by" dates to help curb food waste
The British supermarket Morrisons has decided to remove “use-by” dates on milk packaging by the end of the month in an effort to save millions of pints of milk from being needlessly thrown away each year. Instead, the supermarket is inviting their customers to use the traditional, age-old Read More...