The Optimist View
Our weekend edition long form journalism explores in-depth solutions to global issues.
Celebrating Crisis: Towards a Culture of Cooperation
"Life, in its autopoietic, self-creating and self-maintaining evolution dances between chaos and perfect order without ever losing itself in chaos or getting stuck in rigid order." By Elisabet Sahtouris Précis Humanity, like all other species of Earth before and with us, is evolving—and Read More...
What would a "Basic Income" really do for America?
“...paying dividends from wealth we own together is a practical, market-based way to assure the survival of a large middle class." - Peter Barnes By Kristy Jansen The United States of America has faced sky-rocketing income disparity for decades, and this issue has been gaining more Read More...
Why Explore? Highlights from Space Week!
Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars. - Carl Sagan This past week, our Editorial Team put our focus on the Moon and the stars, the Read More...
“To Infinity and Beyond” - The Power of Imagination
Science Fiction, Otherworldly Aspirations & Innovative Teamwork By Kristy Jansen July 20, 2019 was the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first small step on another world, and humanity’s symbolic “giant leap” into the future. In the intervening decades, we have learned how to Read More...
Satisfying the Ache for Home
Whole Community Approaches to Accommodation by Amelia Buckley Homelessness has been on the rise in many major cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco, where homelessness rose in the last year by 12 and 17 percent respectively. But even for those who have a home, it’s often not that Read More...
Transformation and Turbulence: Dr. Nick Haddad on his quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature
“We should care about butterflies because they are a part of the web of life…and they are the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ of ecosystem health.” - Nick Haddad By Kristy Jansen & Amelia Buckley Chaos theory implies that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it can cause a Read More...
Making Friends with Coyotes and Critters: A film review of The Biggest Little Farm
“For a new generation to be able to simultaneously make a decent living and pursue a profession that they feel is synonymous with how they want to live on this planet is an exceptional opportunity.” - Alan York By Kristy Jansen In 2007, a group of my friends and I read Barbara Read More...
Understanding The Neurodivergent Perspective
What’s it like to live in a body and brain that functions differently than the majority of your peers? We are not talking about subtle differences - as always exist between any two minds - but rather those individuals who possess an entire mental processing system that is metaphorically blind to Read More...
Youth Paving the Way
photo credit: Shutterstock By Optimist Daily Editorial Team Youth activism is proving a promising channel for authentic, positive change in our world today. Anthony J. Nocella II, the National Coordinator for the Save the Kids Foundation has worked with young people for years and is an expert Read More...
An Ode to the Marvelous Mushroom
By Amelia Buckley August 14th marked the first day of the sold-out 39th annual Telluride Mushroom Festival in Aspen, Colorado, which sold more tickets this year than ever. Mushrooms gained a reputation in the 1970s as a vehicle for psychedelic exploration, but these fungi friends are not just Read More...