Building Community
Our Theme in November 2019
Think Global, Eat Local
“A garden is a solution that leads to other solutions. It is part of the limitless pattern of good health and good sense." – Wendell Berry By Sadie Wilbur Dirty Hands, Happy Heart My love for all things green began when I was a young girl. I grew up alongside a variety of trees and plants, Read More...
5 Ways to bring people together with food
In almost every corner of the world, coming together and sharing a meal is one of the most communal and binding traditions. As we have already reported, food is a wonderful way to bring people together; to forge friendships, exercise your creativity, and even save money while having an enjoyable Read More...
What vampire bats teach us about friendship
There are still biological and behavioral mysteries to social bonding that experts are trying to figure out. With so many factors at play it can be hard to put a fine point on why we do some things and not others to get close to one another. Sometimes, it pays to look at other examples of mammalian Read More...
How to keep friends with different political views
There’s a lot to be gained from friends with different opinions. That said, it can be difficult to maintain friendships with people who have strongly held opinions, politically speaking. This is why the editorial team at ThriveGlobal asked their readers for advice about maintaining such Read More...
Hiking with little ones? It can be done!
As the spring finds its way to the Western Hemisphere, many parents are looking for ways to connect with their children outdoors. Frankly we’ve all spent too much time inside through the course of the pandemic and the value of Vitamin D cannot be underestimated. At The Optimist Daily we are fans Read More...
Researchers find companionship may reduce risk of Alzheimer's
Here at The Optimist Daily, we’ve written a great deal about the contributing factors to Alzheimer's disease and what you can do to help avoid it yourself. Exercise, proper diet, even knitting, and nifty nasal sprays can improve your chances, but recent findings suggest that just keeping in Read More...
Sustainable Building in a Changing Climate
“Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour.” – Greta Thunberg Our house is on fire, so how do we build in the face of disaster? Climate change is both an immediate and impending crisis: Under current conditions, we’re bound for 1000-year floods and Read More...
Turin transforms abandoned tramway into an attractive community park
Here at The Optimist Daily, we are big fans of sustainable urban development projects that put community front center. The creation of the Precollinear Park in Turin, Italy, is exactly this type of project. The park came about as the result of a placemaking initiative by nonprofit Torino Read More...
Rosario, Argentina: A case study in the benefits of urban farming
In an effort to address the financial collapse of 2001, the municipal government of Rosario, Argentina came up with an ingenious plan to get the city’s residents back to work. Officials partnered with 700 farming families to dedicate unused land in the city for farming. This not only created Read More...
Multi technology energy center provides green energy directly to local community
Wind and solar power have long been the most popular suggested methods to reduce fossil fuel emissions. While in many places their efficacy was still being debated, some entrepreneurs in Wales took it upon themselves to make community-wide renewable energy a reality. The Rassau industrial Read More...