A Chinese energy firm plans to build 100 solar farms shaped like pandas.

Death Valley's average temperature in July is 107.39°F, a record. Phoenix, Arizona, hits 119°. Some flights at the city's airport are canceled as a result. Ahvaz, Iran, reaches 129°, possibly the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded on Earth. 

Yellowstone grizzly bears lose endangered species protection, opening the door to future trophy hunting. The Sierra Club sues to halt the delisting. 

Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, the nation's largest coal company, sues HBO comedian John Oliver for making fun of him. 

In the last 40 years, the sperm count and quality in men from North America, Europe, and Australia has declined by half.  

Sweden commits to carbon neutrality by 2045. 

Hurricane Harvey devastates Houston, killing at least 72 people. The storm drops 33 trillion gallons of water on Texas and Louisiana, making it the most extreme rain event in U.S. recorded history. 

Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, says that his next car will be electric.  

The Bureau of Land Management outlaws swinging on ropes from natural arches in Utah. 

As many as 200,000 captive desert tortoises roam backyards in Las Vegas. That figure may exceed the number of desert tortoises in the wild. 

At least 10 right whales are found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. Only 500 remain, making them the rarest of all whales.  

This year's dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the size of New Jersey, the largest ever.  

A Navajo Nation committee rejects Grand Canyon Escalade, a proposed billion-dollar entertainment complex at the brink of the Grand Canyon.  

Oregon joins some 20 other states in making it legal to eat roadkill. 

An iceberg the size of Delaware, one of the largest ever recorded, breaks off from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica.  

Officials at Olympic National Park propose to relocate or kill 600 non-native mountain goats. 

American Electric Power will build a 2,000-megawatt wind farm in Oklahoma. It will be the largest single-site wind farm in the United States. 

This article appeared in the November/December 2017 edition with the headline "Up to Speed: Two Months, One Page." 

This article has been corrected.