Politics
Having a difficult time finding positive news about national and global politics? Search no further! From public policy to positive leadership to democracy efforts, find the latest good news stories in the world of politics at The Optimist Daily.
Amsterdam to ban diesel and gas-powered cars and motorbikes by 2030
As the world gets hotter and more crowded, we don't need our transportation to continue pumping dirty emissions into the air we breathe. The World Health Association lists air pollution as one of the most threatening global public health issues and estimates that 90 percent of the world’s Read More...
Getting a law passed is complicated. This accelerator is helping activists do it
The idea of creating a law to address a specific issue, let alone trying to get it passed in Congress, seems awfully overwhelming—especially if you don’t know where to begin. Yet if you want to make real change as an activist, the best thing you can do is get a law passed in order to change Read More...
Maine becomes first state in the US to ban environmentally-harmful Styrofoam
Like all plastics, Styrofoam, or polystyrene, stays around in the environment for hundreds of years. But it's particularly noxious because its light weight makes it liable to be carried by wind and water into the ocean, where it breaks down into micro-plastics that eventually make their way into Read More...
Maine just ditched Columbus Day and replaced it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day
There has been a growing movement to change the name of Columbus Day, which has been a federal holiday since 1934. Some activists say that celebrating it ignores the atrocities committed by Christopher Columbus and other European explorers against the indigenous people they encountered. A troubling Read More...
Los Angeles just announced its own Green New Deal
Los Angeles has big plans to clean up its smoggy, traffic-filled image. This week, while Congress is only discussing the Green New Deal, Los Angeles is announcing a version of their own—an ambitious plan to transform itself in order to tackle climate change. Under the plan, LA plans to run on 55 Read More...
Washington becomes first state to make human composting legal
Isn’t it weird that humanity has advanced so far when it comes to technology, and yet, we have only two options for disposing of human bodies after death? There’s a traditional burial, which requires wood and steel and means leaking dangerous chemicals into the ground, and cremation, which both Read More...
Why the Green New Deal can help to fix economic inequality in America
The much-hyped Green New Deal, which laid out the broad strokes of a U.S. transition to green energy by 2030, failed in Congress. But its champions haven’t given up. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and other like-minded legislators are working on a series of smaller bills Read More...
New York City is getting ready to ban new glass skyscrapers
The glass skyscraper was once a symbol of America’s mighty economic power. Perhaps it still is, but to many people nowadays, the glass skyscraper is the epitome of unsustainable architecture. Glass skyscrapers are incredibly inefficient because of all the heat that escapes through the windows, Read More...
New York City passes new law to curb food waste and feed the hungry
Although we’ve placed this fact in stories before, it remains a shock every time we type it: in America, an estimated 40 percent of all food ends up in the waste bin on an annual basis, according to the National Resources Defense Council. In New York City, this statistic is particularly alarming Read More...
Cities all over the world are electing bike mayors. Here’s why
When the first “bicycle mayor”–a person who serves as a connecting point between city departments, nonprofits, and other bike advocates– was chosen in Amsterdam in 2016, the idea was to help an already bike-obsessed city become even more bikeable. But the program was never intended only to Read More...