Green News Of 2011: Environmental Stories In Review (PHOTOS)

2011 was a big year for green news.

Several natural disasters dominated the headlines, with a tsunami in Japan, a hurricane that hit the U.S. East Coast and an earthquake that caused damage near the nation's capital.

In energy news, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and the Canadian tar sands oil that it would deliver made news as environmentalists and residents of Nebraska spoke out against the pipeline. Fracking, a method of underground natural gas extraction, raised concerns from citizens worried about groundwater contamination near fracking operations in the western and northeastern U.S.

Animals also made the news, but often for tragic reasons. Police in Ohio were forced to shoot 48 rare and exotic animals after an exotic animal farm owner released them and committed suicide. Several gruesome animal attacks also showed how human intrusion into animal habitats can have deadly results.

Which news story will you most remember from 2011? Vote in the slideshow and share other news stories with us in the comments below.

RATE IT!   |  

VOTE

Forget It

Very Memorable!

CURRENT TOP 5 PICK YOUR OWN TOP 5

USERS WHO VOTED

NEW! CREATE YOUR OWN SLIDESHOW

For more on the best of 2011, visit bestof2011.aol.com.

Comments

[Jonathan Kenny]

11:57 PM on 01/02/2012

the trillions of money wasted by the obama gang on this stupidn useless programs

[drcrdfarmer]

01:16 PM on 01/01/2012

How come we never heard about this loan till after it went bankruped.. I can't believe Congress didn't know about this loan before it was given. I can't believe Obama let this money go.This is why we need to take our country back into our hands and out of the hands of Capital hill and the
White house...

[Genders]

08:56 PM on 01/02/2012

Solyandra failed. 75% of new well funded private ventures fail within a few years. some 90% within a decade. New tech companies fail even more often. So let's stop wasting money on investment, right?

What did we get for 500M$? we got 100MW of solar installed. 100M$ in direct avoided unemployed and welfare, All that money was spent locally, so it saved a lot more jobs as well, research that may lead to future inventions, a nice new building that someone will use.

Meanwhile the real problems waste trillions with NOTHING to show for it, or destruction as a result: Wars trillions, bankster gambling 16T$, and ingrate rich Trillions in tax breaks.

Let's not forget the 54B$ in loan backing that nukes got, even though the CBO give them a 50% chance of defaulting on the loans. Add in the 500M$ per year per reactor nukes get, coal even more. Get some perspective.

Solyandra has turned into a witch hunt on green and democrats.

[OkieMon]

08:20 PM on 12/31/2011

another fracking related quake in ohio......the toxic frack fluid flow back from well drilling is injected under high pressure into old abanodoned gas wells....this is causing the quakes....and the gas companies say this injection process deep into the earth "seals off the toxic stuff forever"....now if this was true don't you think this would be a good way to get rid of all our nuclear waste ? not !! just more lies from the fossil fuel fas*cists....when will the sheep ever learn ? corporations lie lie lie....

[Blizzard2012]

11:40 AM on 12/31/2011

Occupy Earth, the most destructive force in nature. Tsunamis, floods, tornados, volcanic ash, etc.

[Lucile S]

12:06 PM on 12/31/2011

Of course it is. We have to stop thinking that Earth is our puppet. That's rather all the contrary, actually. One thing is certain: we need Earth but Earth doesn't need us.