2014 is the hottest year on record.  

Governor Andrew Cuomo bans fracking in New York. 

Michigan declares burning tires and other solid waste to be a form of renewable energy.  

The 2014 hurricane season is the weakest in 17 years. 

California's drought is its worst in 1,200 years.  

The number of polar bears in Alaska and Canada has dropped by 40 percent in the past decade. 

A glut of oil causes U.S. gasoline prices to plummet, weakening the viability of dirty energy sources like Canada's tar sands.  

President Barack Obama bans oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay. 

The rufa red knot, which migrates from Tierra del Fuego to Canada, is the first bird to be designated as a threatened species because of the effects of climate change.

The Department of Energy estimates that the federal loan guarantee program that famously lost $528 million on failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra will end up $5 billion to $6 billion in the black.  

The United States and China reach a landmark climate agreement. The United States will double its rate of emissions cuts, and China will limit emissions by 2030. 

A new species of snake, Siphlophis ayaums, is the world's 10,000th known reptile.  

A new study estimates that the world's oceans contain at least 700 pieces of plastic for every human on Earth. 

India plans to double its use of coal.  

There are now more brown bears (grizzlies) in Europe than in the contiguous United States. 

A wolf is spotted on the Kaibab Plateau north of the Grand Canyon, the first in the region in 70 years. It is likely killed by a hunter in Utah soon after. 

A mountain lion is seen in Kentucky for the first time since before the Civil War. Officers of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources kill it. 

Angalifu, an elderly northern white rhino at the San Diego Zoo, dies at age 44 of natural causes. Only five remain in the world.