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

Canada’s Supreme Court rules that the country’s First Nations must be consulted on large energy projects. The court throws out permits for seismic testing for oil and gas in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, in part because local Inuit were inadequately consulted about the potential effects on the marine mammals on which they depend. 

In the last four decades, the sperm count and quality in men from North America, Europe, and Australia has declined by half. No such decline was seen in men from South America, Africa, and Asia. 

Don’t get your hopes up for yarsha gumba, the fungus Cordyceps sinensis, a.k.a. “Himalayan Viagra”—climate change is making it exceedingly rare. 

After Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski (R) votes against proceeding with debate on repealing Obamacare, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reportedly calls to tell her that development projects in her state might suffer as a result. Murkowski is a long-time advocate of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, which the Trump administration has advocated for in the past.

The Senate confirms David Bernhardt, a lobbyist for oil, mining, and water interests, as deputy secretary of the Interior. At his confirmation hearing, Bernhardt promised to “follow the policy perspective of the president” on climate change issues.

Since the 1950s, humans have produced 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic—enough to cover Argentina ankle-deep in waste. 

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

EPA head Scott Pruitt spent nearly half of his first months in office in, or traveling to or from, his home state of Oklahoma, with much of the travel paid by taxpayers.

American Electric Power announces a $4.5 billion investment in a 2,000-megawatt wind farm on the western panhandle of Oklahoma. When completed, the project will be the largest single-site wind farm in the United States.

The United Kingdom follows France’s lead in banning all new gas- and diesel-powered cars and vans by 2040.

Snooty, the world’s oldest-known captive manatee, gets stuck in an underwater tunnel and drowns two days after his 69th birthday. Thousands of people in Bradenton, Florida, where the accident occurred, sign a petition to replace the town’s Confederate memorial statue with a statue of Snooty.  

To get our environmental news roundup delivered to your inbox every week, sign up for Sierra's Green Life newsletter.