Life on a Sustainable Planet

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Wolves, Bats, and Parthenogenesis In This Week's Earth Optimism

These stories celebrate success, uncover a spark of hope, share a new idea, or might just make you feel good about Planet Earth.

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Wildlife Solutions and Jane Goodall's Hope in This Week's Earth Optimism

These stories celebrate success, uncover a spark of hope, share a new idea, or might just make you feel good about Planet Earth.

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A Tweeting Tree and Climate Refugia in This Week's Earth Optimism

These stories celebrate success, uncover a spark of hope, share a new idea, or might just make you feel good about Planet Earth.

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Climate Anxiety Remedies and Fighting Fast Fashion in This Week's Earth Optimism

These stories celebrate success, uncover a spark of hope, share a new idea, or might just make you feel good about Planet Earth.

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A Different Kind of Podcast: The Possibilists From Pelecanus and Earth Optimism

Earth Optimism has partnered with Pelecanus on a podcast that highlights stories from interdisciplinary facets of the conservation community on the idea of possibilism. Here, Taylor Parker, who protects and restores habitats as a conservation social scientist and co-founder of Pelecanus, introduces his organization and the creation of The Possibilists.

Paine uses her background in social work and sustainable development to develop solutions that work for both people and the planet.

Empowering Pastoralists and Hunter-Gatherers for Conservation in Tanzania

Paine Makko is the executive director of the Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) and a committed advocate for Indigenous Peoples in Tanzania. UCRT is a non-profit environmental and social justice organization that aims to empower Indigenous communities and secure their rights to land and sustainability. Makko combines both her experience as a pastoralist and her educational background in social work and sustainable development to develop solutions that work for both people and the planet. In addition to supporting Indigenous groups as a whole, Makko is also passionate about female empowerment in conservation and Indigenous spaces.

© Sophia Chapin

The Power of Storytelling in Conservation

A conservation communications intern reflects on what she's learned from two semesters with the Conservation Commons and Earth Optimism.

Celebrate Earth Day online again with Earth Optimism.

Earth Day Is Going Digital Again, but Don't Let That Get You Down

Let’s make this new, even-more-digital-than-before time we are in an opportunity to create a global, online conversation and remind our fellow citizens of planet Earth that there are so many things both worth celebrating and fighting for

Shreya Ramachandran created her own nonprofit, The Grey Water Project, to educate and provide resources to diverse audiences on water recycling both at home and in the workplace.

Meet Shreya Ramachandran, Water Hero and Advocate

Water insecurity is an increasingly relevant issue for many people around the world and here in the U.S. as a result of our changing climate. Inspired by both droughts in California and water access in India, Shreya Ramachandran has made it her mission to tackle these problems through the use of greywater. In addition to conducting her own research, she has created her own nonprofit, The Grey Water Project, to educate and provide resources to diverse audiences on water recycling at home and in the workplace.

James Miller has used his personal passion for wildlife to draft other youth to the cause.

Meet James Miller: A Cambridge Student and Aspiring Champion for Biodiversity

James Miller is a first-year University of Cambridge student with a passion for wildlife and conservation. An aspiring nature presenter and filmmaker, James has put his interests into action by helping to engage others in the protection of biodiversity. He has also become an avid youth climate advocate, leading him to get involved in environmental policy within the UK and globally.

Don't forget to give to the planet this holiday season.

5 Ways to Bring Earth Optimism to the Holidays

From opting outside to recycled wrapping – here are a few ways to bring the values of Earth Optimism into your holiday celebrations.

The Global Co Lab Network and Smithsonian Conservation Commons partnered to create the Eco Teen Action Network to empower teens locally and globally to address the United Nations Sustainable Development goals and Earth Optimism.

Meet The Eco Teens Who Are Learning How To Save The Planet

The Global Co Lab Network and Smithsonian Conservation Commons partnered to create the Eco Teen Action Network to empower teens locally and globally to address the United Nations Sustainable Development goals and Earth Optimism.

Fred Tutman is the Patuxent Riverkeeper, the longest-serving Waterkeeper in the Chesapeake Bay region, and the only African-American Waterkeeper in the nation

Discerning Blades of Grass in Grassroots Movements: A Riverkeeper's Perspective on Environmental Equity and Diversity

Fred Tutman has dedicated decades to grassroots efforts to keep the Chesapeake Bay region's vast waterways clean. He is the longest-serving Waterkeeper in the Chesapeake Bay region and the founding Patuxent Riverkeeper. There are over 300 Waterkeepers on six continents with nearly half located in the United States – and Tutman is the only African-American Waterkeeper in the country! He's shared his experiences in this field with Smithsonian's Earth Optimism both at our 2020 Digital Summit and during a Folklife Festival collaborated event. Here we talked to him once again about how grassroots causes can empower communities and promote diversity in environmental movements.

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More Sharks in the Water? That's a Good Thing.

Shark expert David Shiffman gives us reason for optimism this Shark Week.

Sahara Conservation Fund ecological monitoring member Habib Ali (next to vehicle) engaging in typical day-to-day monitoring of reintroduced oryx. Photo credit: Tim Wacher, Zoological Society of London.

Continuing Conservation on a Planet on Lockdown

In this multi-part series, the Smithsonian's Conservation Commons takes a look at how capacity building and local community involvement are key to continuing conservation during the current pandemic.

© Cristina Mittermeier

Framing Hope Through A Photographer's Lens

Following the 2020 Earth Optimism Digital Summit, photographer Cristina Mittermeier tells us how she is able to portray optimism in her images.

The Smithsonian's Earth Optimism Summit was a 3-day global live-streamed event that took place on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, 2020, through April 24.

Positivity Has a Voice in Science

A reflection on the 2020 Earth Optimism Digital Summit.

Catch Bill's 90-minute special on Saturday April 25, 2020 on CNN.

Bill Weir's Road to Optimism

CNN's Climate Correspondent Bill Weir talks finding optimism in a contentious climate.

Scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (including Nick Pyenson, left) and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute collect a fossil dolphin from the Caribbean coast of Panama. The fossil is encased in a white plaster jacket, and recovered as the tide rushed in. © Aaron O'Dea / Smithsonian Institution

Digging Into the Past to Find Optimism for the Future

We know that story of what will happen in the coming decades and centuries... what's different about where we're going has to do with the rate of these changes and the biodiversity at hand.

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