A sinkhole in Chile grows large enough to swallow the Arc de Triomphe.

Strong Arm, a famous 40-foot saguaro cactus with 34 arms in Arizona’s Tortolita Preserve, falls over and dies after 150 to 200 years. 

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles—the smallest and most endangered sea turtles—hatch in Louisiana for the first time in over 75 years. 

President Joe Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate action in US history. 

US nighttime temperatures in July were the hottest on record, with nighttime minimums 3°F warmer than the 20th-century average. In Texas, daytime highs for the month were, for the first time, all over 100°.

More than 425,000 people cancel their federal flood insurance after the Federal Emergency Management Agency raises its rates to more accurately reflect the risk.  

A new EPA risk assessment of the weedkiller dicamba finds that it poses a previously undisclosed risk to honeybees.  

In Montana, a pipeline owned by a company that’s already being sued for two previous spills ruptures and spills an additional 45,000 gallons of diesel.

An anti-fracking group using infrared video discovers 40 leaking oil and gas wells in Los Angeles.  

Children who live close to fracking sites in Pennsylvania are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia. 

Norway replaces Russia as Germany’s largest gas supplier. 

Norwegian officials kill a 1,300-pound celebrity walrus named Freya after people ignore pleas not to take selfies with it. 

Contrary to published reports, Germany says it is undecided about postponing the closure of its last three nuclear plants.

California governor Gavin Newsom proposes that the state loan $1.4 billion to Pacific Gas & Electric so that it can keep its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant open for another 10 years.  

There’s a one-in-50 chance that California will experience a devastating mega rainstorm that could dump as much as 16 inches of precipitation in a month.

In response to historically low water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the Bureau of Reclamation cuts Arizona’s 2023 share of water from the Colorado River by 21 percent, Nevada by 8 percent, and Mexico by 7 percent. 

A fifth human body is discovered in shrinking Lake Mead. In Yellowstone, a foot is discovered floating in the Abyss Pool hot spring.