In the city of The Hague, a Dutch agri-tech firm has had the bright idea of combining a greenhouse grow operation with a grocery and delivery business. Called LocalDutch, their idea is that the greenhouse grocers will integrate on-site food production with direct-to-consumer retail and local delivery in a single location, hoping the result will […] The post Urban Farm Shops Combine Dutch Greenhouse Technology and Food-Retail into One appeared first on Good News Network.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Between the nonstop news cycle, workplace demands, and life’s everyday challenges, maintaining focus has never felt harder or more important. From rising interest rates to relationship stress to the mental clutter of daily life, distractions seem built into modern existence. But whether you’re managing a team, working solo, or just trying to stay present at home, building better focus is a skill anyone can strengthen. These four research-backed techniques are especially helpful in chaotic times. They’re simple to learn, adaptable to any lifestyle, and powerfully effective whether you apply them to your job, in relationships, or on the playing field. 1. Compartmentalize: keep stress in its lane Stress from one area of life has a habit of leaking into others. Bringing work worries home or vice versa makes it harder to show up fully in either space. One of the most effective ways to regain clarity is to mentally assign your stressors to the proper category: work, home, health, etc. Unless something is urgent, compartmentalize it. That means letting home concerns stay at home when you’re on the clock, and leaving work issues at the door when you walk into your living room. Doing this consistently builds stronger boundaries and helps you stay focused on what’s in front of you. 2. Decompartmentalize: make room to engage Just as it’s useful to keep stress in its lane, it’s equally important to fully arrive in each new environment. This is where decompartmentalization comes in. This means taking a conscious moment to set aside previous concerns and focus on the present setting. That could look like a short walk between meetings, a quick music break during your commute, or even just a deep breath before stepping into the house after work. These transitions help reset your nervous system and allow you to bring your full attention to the people and tasks that matter most. 3. Prioritize: not everything matters equally Without clear priorities, everything can start to feel equally urgent… and that’s a fast track to overwhelm. Start each day by updating your to-do list. Bring forward unfinished tasks, add anything new, and then sort your list by urgency and importance. Do the tasks that are both urgent and important first. Items that are less pressing or less vital can come later, or be scheduled for a quieter day. Is there something small you’ve been putting off that would only take five minutes? Knock it out once the bigger priorities are handled. Effective prioritization not only sharpens focus, but it also helps reduce decision fatigue and prevents energy from being wasted on distractions that feel urgent but aren’t. 4. Understand yourself: get clear on what’s pulling your focus Focus begins with self-awareness. You can’t solve a problem you haven’t noticed. If you find yourself distracted or stressed, pause and ask: What’s really going on here? This kind of check-in takes discipline, but it’s essential. Is your stress coming from something unresolved at work? Then it may be time to address it directly. Is the source unrelated to your current setting? If it’s not urgent, compartmentalize it. If it is urgent, give yourself permission to step away and deal with it properly. Ignoring stress only drains your focus further. By identifying it and making a choice to address it or to set it aside, you reclaim control over your attention. Building a culture of focus These techniques aren’t just for individuals; they’re also powerful tools for leaders. Whether you’re coaching a team or managing a department, modeling focus and teaching these skills can transform group dynamics. Regular check-ins with your team, honest conversations about mental load, and shared prioritization sessions can all help people refocus and work more effectively. If it feels like everyone is struggling, consider holding a “halftime huddle” to regroup and re-strategize. Ask: What’s getting in the way? What are we really trying to achieve? Which stressors are we carrying that don’t belong here? Encouraging a culture of focus, self-awareness, and intentionality doesn’t just boost productivity; it also builds trust, well-being, and long-term resilience.     Did this solution stand out? Share it with a friend or support our mission by becoming an Emissary.The post 4 daily habits to clear your mind and get stuff done first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Finding parking in a city has always been a small daily nightmare. In places like Los Angeles, drivers can spend more than 80 hours a year circling the block, and cities across the globe, from London to Frankfurt, offer little relief. But Vienna is taking a different approach: instead of building more places to park, the Austrian capital is removing them. Surprisingly, it’s going pretty well. Faced with the dual challenge of climate change and limited space, Vienna is on a mission to swap asphalt for trees, bike lanes, and public seating. In doing so, it’s not just making the city cooler and more livable but also challenging a long-held assumption in urban planning: that cars should always come first. The hidden cost of parking lots Parking spots may be individually small, but collectively, they take up an enormous amount of space. In the United States, roughly 25 percent of developable urban land is devoted to parking. That’s a lot of heat-trapping pavement and a lot of real estate that could be doing something else. All that asphalt contributes to rising summer temperatures, worsens flooding by blocking stormwater drainage, and prioritizes cars over people. Some cities are starting to realize the trade-offs aren’t worth it. Vienna’s plan: break up the asphalt Vienna has been quietly removing street parking in favor of public space, and not just in the outer districts. Even Neuer Markt, a historic square in the heart of the city, has been transformed. Once packed with parked cars, it’s now a pedestrian-friendly area with trees, benches, and open space for people to gather. The city has more than 350 projects underway to replace parking spots with green infrastructure and public areas. That includes a major street reimagined as a Dutch-style cycling corridor, where 140 parking spaces were swapped for nearly a mile of bike lanes and plants. Residents can even apply to convert individual parking spots into what the city calls “neighborhood oases” made up of community gardens, playgrounds, or outdoor seating areas. On top of this, in a major policy shift, Vienna now requires payment for all street parking city-wide, with a strict two-hour limit for non-residents. Free parking is a thing of the past. The key to success: offer real alternatives Of course, making parking harder isn’t the point; making alternatives easier is. Vienna has invested heavily in a reliable, affordable transit system. “Park and ride” garages allow commuters to leave their cars outside the city center and connect seamlessly to subways or trams. The public transport system is fast, cheap, and well-connected, which is exactly what’s needed to encourage behavioral change. “We have to take people on board,” said Ina Homeier from Vienna’s Department of Urban Planning and Development. “We have to ask: how do you want your neighborhood? Do you want it to be filled with cars and without any trees, or do you want something different?” This approach is working. The city’s investment in greener infrastructure is partly funded by parking fees, which now bring in around €180 million ($209 million) annually. Those funds go right back into cycling infrastructure and public transit. As a result, car use in Vienna has dropped by 37 percent compared to the 1990s. Changing car culture isn’t easy Still, resistance remains. “There’s been very complicated politics around taking back some of the space we’ve accorded the automobile,” said journalist Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World. For those who rely on cars, especially in places where transit isn’t a viable option, reducing parking can feel like an attack. This tension is especially strong in countries like the United States, where 92 percent of households own at least one car. Drivers are a powerful political group, and car culture is deeply ingrained in urban policy. Yet even in the US, cities are beginning to rethink their approach. Dallas turned a large downtown parking lot into a 3.7-acre park. San Francisco and New York have kept many of the “parklets” that popped up during the pandemic, turning curbside parking into outdoor dining and gathering spaces. Raising street parking fees has also proven an effective measure to manage demand and fund better alternatives. “There are lots of cities that are starting to realize the opportunity that parking offers for cities that have relatively limited budgets,” said Dana Yanocha of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. And cities like San Jose and Austin are rolling back zoning laws that required new developments to include a minimum number of parking spaces, freeing up land for housing, green space, or businesses instead. It’s not just about cars, it’s about choice At the heart of all this is a simple idea: people need options. “You cannot reduce anything without offering a good alternative,” said Homeier. That’s especially true for transportation. When people have a cheap, fast, and pleasant alternative to driving, they’re far more likely to use it. Vienna’s success didn’t come from banning cars. It came from making room for something better. The city is betting that the future of urban life is not about where to park, but about what kind of place we want to live in.     Did this solution stand out? Share it with a friend or support our mission by becoming an Emissary.The post Vienna is turning parking spaces into parks and it’s changing the city first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

Spanish artist Alumdena Romera is turning a wheat farm into a work of art with the help of the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE). Romera is creating “farming photographs” using two-hectare farm fields as her canvas. The photos are made of wheat pixels that grow into varying shades of green. From above, they come together as full pictures. Una joven artista española hace la fotografía más grande del mundo La fotógrafa descendiente de agricultores Almudena Romero crea la imagen de un ojo, del tamaño de una hectárea, en un campo de trigo https://t.co/JFXUMjU31x— La Voz de Galicia (@lavozdegalicia) February 7, 2026 “Coming from a family of sustainable orange farmers in Valencia, I have always been aware of the importance of how we do things as much as what we do, particularly in the context of the current environmental crisis,” she told Positive News. “With Farming Photographs, I feel I have come full circle, making my photographic practice more sustainable by allowing images to emerge through light and plant growth.” Romera Uses Plants as Her Medium This year, Romera is growing a photo of an eye, and it will be fully “developed” this spring. This isn’t the only way she has used flora and fauna as her medium. She’s also printed photos onto delicate leaves and other plants, sometimes using only light. “I wanted to see what photography could become if it worked with living systems rather than industrial processes,” she noted. “The landscape becomes both the medium and the message.” The best part is that the art piece will come full circle following its big debut. Once it’s fully grown and ready to harvest, it will be milled into flour in what INRAE researcher Claire Manceau calls “a meeting of art and ecology that shows how creativity can reconnect us with the land.” This story’s featured image is by Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Steak ‘n Shake is continuing its goal of becoming a health-focused fast food restaurant by removing all microwaves from its locations within two months. The chain announced its new move on social media last week, saying, “We expect every unit to be microwave-free by April 15th. Quality restaurants don’t need microwaves. It’s part of our journey to improve food quality and use traditional methods of cooking only.” The company ended with, “Eat real food,” which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently emphasized while promoting the country’s new food pyramid guidelines. View this post on Instagram Steak ‘n Shake Has Made Multiple Improvements Over the Past Year Steak ‘n Shake has made several improvements over the last year. In 2025, it replaced seed oils with beef tallow for all fried menu items, saying it was both healthier and more flavorful. It also ditched traditional milk for A2 milk and swapped regular Coke-A-Cola for the real sugar variety that is sold in glass bottles. The company has gotten mixed reviews after its announcement, with many wondering why it ever used microwaves at all. But many people are just relieved to see more restaurants moving towards the goal of a healthier country. “I love you so much. best fries ever ,” one person wrote. “Wow. My favorite place by far now,” another added. “Amen to that!” someone cheered. “No more fake food!” This story’s featured image is by Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.