Gibraltar bans the release of helium balloons in order to protect sea life. 

Denmark will ban PFAS chemicals from food packaging.

Facebook signs a deal to buy 200 megawatts of power from the Aviator Wind Project in Texas, which will eventually be the largest single-site wind project in the United States.

California now has 1 million rooftop solar systems.

The US surpasses 100 gigawatts of wind capacity.

Gas pumps are disappearing in Norway as electric cars take over.

Goldman Sachs will not finance oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Portland, Oregon, is getting rid of its gasoline-powered leaf blowers. 

Kansas City, Missouri, makes its public transit free.

Berkeley, California, is banning new gas hookups.

In a large-scale trial on several continents, the release of mosquitoes deliberately infected with Wolbachia bacteria results in a drop of 70 percent or more in the number of people infected with deadly dengue and chikungunya. 

Notre Dame’s three hives of bees survive the catastrophic fire that destroyed the cathedral’s roof.

California becomes the first state to ban commercial fur trapping.

Arizona joins New Mexico in banning coyote-killing contests.

More than 1,000 salmon return to Maine’s Penobscot River for the first time since 2011.

With California’s drought over, king salmon rebound to near-historic numbers. 

In the United Kingdom, automobile drivers who kill someone while distracted by their cellphones face life imprisonment. 

Ethiopians plant a record 350 million trees in a day, toward an eventual goal of 4 billion.

Five previously unknown coral reefs are discovered off the southwestern Gulf coast of Mexico.

The first grizzly bear in 80 years shows up in Idaho’s Bitterroot ecosystem.

Bypassing the Trump administration, four major automakers strike a deal with California to increase the fuel efficiency of their vehicles sold in the United States. 

The last 11 orcas and belugas in Russia’s “whale jail” near Vladivostok are freed. 

Canada forbids holding whales, dolphins, and porpoises in captivity. 

Canada bans single-use plastics. 

After a 50-year absence, the red-legged frog—Mark Twain’s “celebrated jumping frog”—is thriving again in Yosemite National Park.  

Biologists identify a new wolf pack in Skagit County, Washington—the first wolves west of the Cascades in a century. 

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite locates a potentially habitable planet only 31 light-years away.