Today’s Solutions: February 15, 2025

Policy Making

Strong public policy leads to more cohesive, resilient, and sustainable societies. In this section, find out about the latest legislations from around the world aimed at making our world a better place.

Brazilian native people

Study finds forests on indigenous lands sequester twice the carbon

We have written at length, in great volume, and with great enthusiasm about the importance of green spaces in cities, carbon sinks, and environmentally helpful trees in general. Forests are absolutely essential to sequestering carbon and our continued adaptation to a changing climate, but some Read More...

Sponge City

Sponge Cities: the future of flood resilience

The world’s cities and population centers are overwhelmingly located near water. This makes good sense since water is essential for living, and throughout history, people have built their settlements where water is accessible and in abundant supply. However, in recent decades the vital good that Read More...

Whales Iceland

As Iceland’s whaling industry decreases, its whale-watching increases

It’s nice when the economically responsible thing to do is also the right thing to do. Iceland announced in February its intentions to end whaling by 2024 because demand for whale meat has decreased significantly.  “There is little proof that there is any economic advantage to this Read More...

Buying an electric car

Want to buy an EV? Make a plan first

As you can probably tell by now, The Optimist Daily is a big fan of electric vehicles. EV’s offer a practical way to lower our personal carbon emissions and hold promise for additional benefits in the near future, such as powering our homes in an emergency. It also feels like EV's have finally Read More...

Broken solar panel

How do solar panels break? And how do we fix them?

At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, teams of scientists and researchers spend large parts of their day jumping on, twisting, smashing, and generally coming up with various ways of breaking solar panels.  It’s not malice, it’s not incompetence. It's not Read More...

Home appraisal industry

Administration unveils plan to fix bias in home appraisal industry

Three weeks ago, The Optimist Daily wrote a piece about Congress' aims to fix bias and inequality in the home appraisal industry. This is a much-needed change to a systemic problem that has furthered the wealth gap over years and kept families from building intergenerational wealth.  On Read More...

Hand draws planet Earth with multicolored felt-tip pens on on a blue background.

World Happiness Report shines a light in dark times

The past few years have been incredibly challenging for the world, though it turns out we’re doing better than you might think!  According to an international research project, levels of social support and benevolence actually increased in this difficult time. This year is the 10th Read More...

Doctor physician hand on happy elderly senior patient to comfort in hospital examination room or hospice nursing home or wellbeing county.

3 ways senior health rights improved post-Pandemic

The pandemic has been especially hard on the elderly population. Being in a high at-risk group meant that many older individuals could have no visitors and had their interactions hugely restricted even when living in the same home. This combined with staff shortages in hospices meant the levels of Read More...

NYC New York City Manhattan lower financial district downtown green trees in Zuccotti Park

In win for Earth, new S.E.C. rules would require climate disclosures

On Monday, the top financial regulator of the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced new regulations that would require disclosures from public corporations about their climate risks and carbon footprints. This marks a huge step towards acknowledging the reality and Read More...

Black hair, Crown Act

House passes bill promoting hair tolerance

Free expression is not just something we value at The Optimist Daily, it is an inalienable right. One big way in which we all express ourselves is through our individual hairstyles. Last week, Congress passed a bill that forbids discrimination based on hair. The discrimination Black Hair Read More...