BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Ninety-seven percent of French people find telemarketing calls annoying. A 2025 parliamentary report called it “one of those rare issues that unites people in France.” The government has apparently decided that’s enough to address it directly. As of early August, unsolicited telemarketing calls are illegal for businesses operating in…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The first terawatt of global solar capacity took nearly 68 years to reach. The second arrived in roughly two years. The third came in 19 months. The world crossed the 3-terawatt mark in early 2026, and the pace is still picking up. In 2025 alone, the world installed 664…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For parents of tweens and teens, August often brings the same showdown: a wish list brimming with the latest must-have styles and a budget that’s not budging. That water bottle your kid swears will change their life? The wide-leg jeans that cost more than your weekly grocery shop? It’s…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In 2022, a group of high schoolers designed 150 LEGO-inspired airplane kits, 3D-printed them one by one, assembled them by hand, and shipped them to a school in Kenya. How is that for a nonprofit origin story? Student Makers was founded in California in 2019 and got its 501(c)(3)…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In 1983, an Australian agricultural adviser named Tony Rinaudo was working in the Sahel when he noticed something that didn’t fit the picture everyone had of the region. The land looked barren. But beneath the depleted soil, root systems were still alive. When farmers eased the pressure of overgrazing,…
Episode Description: Many of the long-time listeners of The Optimist Daily’s podcast will recognize Kristy Jansen’s voice. She’s the former co-host and Executive Director of this show, and she’s back, joining Arielle and Karissa from Mérida, México, to catch them up on what happened in between: the clean energy industry from the inside, and what…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Good news! In the UK, only 63 infants were admitted to intensive care with RSV infection last winter, which is down from 131 the year before. Same 20 hospitals, same surveillance system. The UK Health Security Agency published its first full-year results on the maternal RSV vaccination program on…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM If you’ve ever driven away from school while your kid was still crying at the door, you know the horrible feeling. The half-formed urge to turn the car around. The uncertainty about whether going back would help or just make it worse. The guilt riding shotgun all the way…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Eight months after a shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach killed 15 people, Australia is following through. New South Wales starts a gun buyback on November 2, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Sunday. It’s the largest the country has run since Port Arthur. What the buyback looks…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There’s a pattern in the supplement industry that tends to repeat itself. Researchers find that people who eat foods rich in a particular nutrient have better health outcomes. Companies extract that nutrient, put it in a capsule, and start making promises. Then the clinical trials arrive, and the results…
