In its last week, the Trump administration withdraws protection from more than 3 million acres of northern spotted owl habitat in the Pacific Northwest, opening it to logging.

2020 ties 2016 as the hottest year on record. 

Climate activist Greta Thunberg will appear on a Swedish postage stamp.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy fires two prominent climate denialists for publishing unapproved material on the White House website in hopes of creating an official government record that could be used to impede future climate action.

The Bureau of Land Management’s environmental review for its failed oil lease program on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge cost more than a third of the amount the lease sale brought in. 

Ohio makes it a felony for protesters to trespass on a “critical infrastructure facility”—an oil pipeline, for example.  

Michigan charges its former governor, Rick Snyder, on two counts of willful neglect of duty in connection with the 2014 Flint water scandal.

One out of three US rivers has changed color since 1984.

After closing due to COVID-19, the Washington Monument closes again due to threats of violence from Trump supporters.

Three gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park test positive for COVID-19. 

US production of greenhouse gases fell by more than 10 percent in 2020, largely because of the COVID-19 epidemic. The drop is expected to be temporary.

Wildlife officials in Florida are trying to determine who carved the word Trump into the back of a manatee.