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.
Indian charity serves free meals to underprivileged students in England
A charity feeding millions of poor children in India has recently expanded its focus to put an end to holiday hunger in England by distributing free meals to those facing food insecurity. The charity recently opened its first planned kitchen of three in Watford, a town northwest of London. Serving Read More...
Conservation win: South Carolina bans commercial trade of native turtles
Following increasing pressure from wildlife conservation groups, the state of South Carolina has finally passed legislation banning the commercial trade of native turtles, along with amphibians and other reptiles. Signed by the state’s governor Henry McMaster, the new bill makes it illegal to Read More...
This chef uses food waste to feed and empower her community
After moving from a small town to Rio de Janeiro to become a chef, Regina Tchelly wanted to incorporate food waste reduction into her recipes to help give a second life to ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away. Pumpkin rinds, banana peels, and seeds are just some of the ingredients Read More...
This tax plan wants to help cities address climate change locally
Though it adopted a climate plan in 2009, Berkley, California, hasn’t had the necessary funding to make a significant dent in local emissions. Its transportation and building sectors, in particular, have made little progress in tackling the problem — even though they are among the biggest Read More...
Affordable housing design uses plastic waste to build sustainable homes
There are hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste in the environment all over the globe, threatening both human health and natural ecosystems. What if we could take this problem and use it to solve another one? That’s the line of thinking behind a new ambitious project aiming to build Read More...
Upcycled shipping containers provide housing for LA’s homeless
Los Angeles County has an estimated 66,000 homeless individuals, but a new initiative is helping some find housing from an unexpected source: old shipping containers. Recycled shipping containers can be transformed into livable spaces surprisingly quickly. Each container in the seven-unit Read More...
Report: It would cost $330 billion to end global hunger by 2030
More than 10 percent of the total global population is expected to go hungry in 2020. By spending $330 billion on strategic interventions, the number of hungry people around the world could decrease down to zero by 2030, according to a series of recent reports which looked at available solutions to Read More...
Israel becomes the first country to ban the sale of furs and animal skins
While an increasing number of cities across the world have banned the selling of animal skins and furs in recent years, no government has enacted such a policy on a national level — that is, until now. Israel has recently become the first country in the world to ban the use of animal fur and Read More...
Europe’s top court upholds French ban on bee-harming pesticides
In 2018, the French government placed a ban on the use of certain pesticides that harm bees. These pesticides belong to the neonicotinoid group's family of chemicals and are based on the chemical structure of nicotine. They were introduced in the mid-1990s and work by attacking the central nervous Read More...
Nobel Peace Prize recognizes importance of food security in 2020
Some of the most influential humans in the world have won the Nobel Peace Prize including Malala Yousafzai, Barack Obama, and Nelson Mandela. This year, the prize goes to a much broader world actor: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity Read More...