The summer Arctic ice cap is the smallest ever measured. If current trends continue, Arctic summers will be nearly ice-free within 30 years.
The northern Pacific loggerhead sea turtle is declared endangered.
Fishing regulations have reduced accidental sea turtle deaths in U.S. coastal waters by 90 percent since 1990.
Siemens, Europe's largest engineering firm and the builder of all Germany's nuclear plants,
abandons the nuclear energy business.
The 7 billionth human is born. Out of all the humans who have ever lived, 1 in 15 is alive today.
A federal appeals court reinstates the Roadless Rule, securing protections for 50 million acres of remote federal land.
California and Toronto ban the import, possession, and sale of shark fins.
The South Florida rainbow snake and the Florida fairy shrimp are extinct.
Eighteen endangered Bengal tigers, along with 30 other exotic animals, are shot and killed after their suicidal owner releases them from a private animal farm in Ohio.
More U.S. corn is now used for ethanol than for consumption by humans or animals.
California approves a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; it will go into effect in 2012.
Demolition begins on Washington State's Elwha Dam, which for 101 years has prevented the passage of salmon up the Elwha River.