Sustainable Urban Development
With cities expected to host about 70 percent of the world's population, sustainable urban development is key to making communities worldwide more resilient against the growing threat of climate change. Find out about the latest urban practices from across the world aiming to make our cities more sustainable and inclusive in these good-news stories from The Optimist Daily.
Tel Aviv is becoming an e-scooter city
No two cities are the same, and each one has its own particular changes to make to achieve its climate goals. New York is making plans to become “spongier” to handle excess water. Panama City, Florida is transforming into a tree city, planting over 100,000 new trees, and Tel Aviv, Israel aims Read More...
How Paris is quieting its noise pollution
Those of us that live in a city love it for the layers and layers of life, light, and vibrancy that come from a busy and populous environment. While it is an exciting and bustling place to live, we can also pay a price living in a city when, say, we’re just trying to go to sleep. Noise Read More...
Insects and lab-grown meat could reduce environmental impact by 80 percent
We at The Optimist Daily have written a lot before about the environmental benefits of lab-grown meat and insects as an alternative protein source, and the body of research for this cultural and scientific protein shift keeps growing. A new study published in Nature Food found that replacing Read More...
More than 25 cities in Wisconsin to participate in No Mow May
No Mow May is an initiative that encourages gardeners and homeowners to let their lawns grow wild in the interest of boosting biodiversity and supporting important pollinator populations, which are in decline. It originally began in the UK, but in the spring of 2020, caught on in Appleton, Read More...
Could tidal energy be the new wave of renewables?
Time and tide wait for no man, so the saying goes. Sailors used to have to sail with the inevitable changing of the tides and were subject to the whims of the sea. Now, in Wales, humans will soon use the sea’s reliable indifference to us to generate energy. Construction has begun on the Read More...
LA County mandates compostable and recyclable dining ware
As the largest economy in the country, and often an economic trendsetter, California has often been at the forefront of major changes in the United States. This has been the case with many of California’s green vehicle and driving regulations, and now it might be the same case with plastic Read More...
New Zealand’s new machine revolutionizes its e-waste recycling
Many of us might not consider what effect our computers and other devices have on the world once we’re done with them. There are a lot of consumers demanding the right to repair, and rightly so. Our smart devices have hazardous materials which can be very harmful to the environment and people if Read More...
6 ways to support solar energy without buying panels
Renewable resources are essential to achieve our goal of energy independence and resilience in the face of a changing climate. While many of us support the move toward energy sources such as wind and solar, we might not own our homes or be in a position to put up some solar panels ourselves. The Read More...
How slum residents in India are redesigning their future homes
How do you successfully help residents of a slum move into housing that improves their quality of life while maintaining a strong sense of community? You let them in on the design process and hear them out. At least that is what is happening in an informal settlement in the Indian city of Read More...
Want to slow climate change? Consider making your home all electric
Despite the alarming reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, experts still think that if we pull together and act quickly to use energy more efficiently, slow deforestation, and make a rapid shift to renewables, we can still cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by Read More...