Giant (but harmless) Joro spiders will drop from the sky along the East Coast this spring. They are expected to eventually colonize the entire Eastern Seaboard. 

Six million people worldwide have died from COVID-19. The United States nears 1 million deaths.

Above-average temperatures in Ukraine hinder the advance of Russian armor, as tanks get bogged down in the mud.  

The Chernobyl nuclear plant, occupied by Russian forces, loses power. The IEA says there is no critical impact to its safety, but the situation may be deteriorating.

President Biden bans the import of Russian oil and gas. (In 2021, Russia supplied less than 8 percent of US petroleum products.) Average US gasoline prices rise to $4.19 a gallon. The European Union vows to reduce gas imports from Russia by two-thirds this year.

California governor Gavin Newsom proposes a gas tax rebate to compensate drivers for the increased cost of gasoline.  

Leaded gasoline reduced the IQ of half of all Americans. 

The EPA restores the ability of California and other states to set their own stricter vehicle emission standards, an authority that had been revoked by the Trump administration. 

The EPA proposes tough emission standards for heavy-duty trucks starting in 2027. 

Citing the conflict in Ukraine, Republicans call for a halt on all climate-related financial regulations.

Arizona’s attorney general Mark Brnovich threatens to use anti-trust law to investigate financial firms and money managers who use climate screens on their investments, calling it “the biggest anti-trust violation in history.”

Kentucky Republicans advance a bill that would divest state funds from financial institutions that divest from fossil fuels. 

Florida’s legislature starts phasing out incentives for rooftop solar. They will disappear entirely in 2028. 

The 400-megawatt Obsidian Solar Center in Oregon’s high desert receives final approval. When completed at the end of 2024, it will be one of the largest solar projects in the country by output. 

An uncontrolled gas leak on Alaska’s North Slope leads to the evacuation of 300 from a nearby ConocoPhillips drilling facility and 20 families from the village of Nuiqsut.

The Amazon rainforest is losing its ability to recover from fires, deforestation, and drought—and may be nearing a tipping point after which it will change to a dry savanna.

A man is arrested at the California-Mexico border with 52 snakes and lizards on his person.

Living organisms found in 2-billion-year-old water beneath a Canadian mine apparently subsist on radioactive decay. 

The wreck of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which sank in 1915, has been located at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. 

A volcanic rock famous in Japan, the Sessho-seki, or killing stone, is found split in two. The stone was said to have contained an evil nine-tailed fox.