In March, wind and solar account for 10 percent of U.S. electricity generation for the first time. 

2016 had the second-biggest jump in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on record—to nearly double the pace since 1979.

Alex Honnold is the first climber to free solo—i.e., climb alone and without ropes or protection of any kind—El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

Wind-turbine manufacturer Goldwind Americas is offering unemployed coal miners free job training for positions at its wind farms in Wyoming.

The late pop star Prince is revealed to have been a secret patron of clean energy—before his death, he anonymously funded a tech incubator for solar companies.

Three Mile Island, the Pennsylvania nuclear power plant that suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, will close for good in 2019.

Asked about climate change, Representative Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) replies, "If there's a real problem, He [God] can take care of it." 

Pledging to "make our planet great again," French president Emmanuel Macron is trying to lure U.S. climate researchers to France with 1.5 million euros in research grants. 

Because of a decline in sea ice, polar bears' diets are shifting from seals to bird eggs. 

Tropical diseases normally associated with warm waters—like infections of Vibrio vulnificus—are turning up not far from the Arctic Circle. 

On June 7, renewables supply more than 50 percent of the U.K.'s electrical-power needs. 

The rate of sea level rise is nearly three times what it was prior to 1990.

The Texas legislature OKs the hunting of feral hogs from hot-air balloons. 

Michigan's attorney general files involuntary manslaughter charges against five government officials in connection with the ongoing water crisis in Flint. 

Maine governor Paul LePage refuses to allow signs to be posted on state roads directing visitors to the new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, the creation of which he opposed. 

The Dakota Access Pipeline begins shipping oil. 

In retaliation for new U.S. duties on Canadian wood imports, Canada threatens to bar shipments of U.S. coal from British Columbia ports. 

In Tasmania, rising ocean waters threaten a historic coal mine.

This article appeared in the September/October 2017 edition with the headline "Up to Speed."