An army of 100,000 ducks is suggested as a way to protect China from a plague of locusts in neighboring Pakistan. 

The World Health Organization declares the spread of COVID-19 to be a pandemic.

Countries, states, and cities react to the coronavirus: Italy closes all businesses except for grocery stores and pharmacies. Denmark shuts all schools and public offices. India bans foreign tourists. Ireland goes into lockdown. President Trump suspends travel to the US from much of Europe. The NBA suspends its season, so does the NHL. The NCAA cancels March Madness. MLB cancels spring training. Broadway shuts down in NYC. Miami-Dade and other cities move to suspend evictions. The Supreme Court is closed to the public. The SXSW festival is canceled, as are St. Patrick’s Day parades in Dublin, New York, San Francisco, and Boston. Disneyland closes. But Landerneau, a small town in western France, hosts 3,500 people dressed as Smurfs. “We must not stop living,” says the town’s mayor.

The coronavirus crisis spurs a large drop in global emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.  

Despite a precipitous worldwide drop in people traveling, some airlines fly empty planes in order to preserve valuable landing times and routes at airports. In the United States, the FAA suspends the rule that led to the practice. 

Oil prices plunge after Saudi Arabia vows greatly increased production in a spat with Russia. Coronavirus fears of decreased demand depress prices further. The price drop dramatically undercuts the US fracking industry, which faces ruin. The White House says it will provide financial support to the flailing industry.  

For International Women’s Day, Shell Oil Co. changes its name to She’ll. 

A new Arizona law requires information about endangered species gathered on private property to be kept secret, even from federal agencies charged with administering the Endangered Species Act. 

Two Nevada men covered in blue paint are arrested for spraypainting graffiti near ancient petroglyphs in Basin and Range National Monument.  

A Utah judge fines the Discovery Channel’s “Diesel Brothers” $850,000 for violating the Clean Air Act by outfitting diesel trucks to illegally emit large clouds of sooty exhaust, a.k.a. “rolling coal.”  

A new “tandem” solar cell that combines the two current leading designs is a major advance in solar technology: more efficient, cheaper to produce, and longer lasting. 

Loggerhead turtles confuse the smell of ocean plastic for that of their food.  

After 20 years of captivity, a female loggerhead turtle swims 23,000 miles from South Africa to her nesting beach in Australia.