Years of poor land-use decisions and neglect of emergency preparedness probably made the losses of life and property from superstorm Sandy significantly worse. Similar situations exist in other U.S. coastal areas.

"The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017 and will become a net oil exporter by 2030, the International Energy Agency said Monday."

"That increased oil production, combined with new American policies to improve energy efficiency, means that the United States will become 'all but self-sufficient' in meeting its energy needs in about two decades — a 'dramatic reversal of the trend' in most developed countries, a new report released by the agency says.

"An election that saw great strides for women, gay men and lesbians and even pot smokers left the nascent food movement scratching its collective head. We’re going to see marijuana legalized before we see a simple change in food labeling that’s favored by more than 90 percent of Americans? Or a tax on soda, a likely contributor to the obesity problem?"

A lot of environmental controversies were postponed until after the 2012 election (except in the GOP-controlled House). Now that's going to change.

"The West Nile virus epidemic of 2012, the worst in a decade, may be notorious for yet another reason: The virus, in some cases, is attacking the brain more aggressively than in the past, raising the specter that it may have mutated into a nastier form, say two neurologists who have extensive experience dealing with the illness."

"Hot and dry conditions in parts of middle America deepened an ongoing drought in many states over the last week, according to a climatology report issued Thursday."

Because of the Citizens United decision, spending on the 2012 election by fossil-fuel and anti-environmental-regulation groups was enormous. The actual results of the election seem to suggest that these business lobbies made some disastrously bad investments. The common media narrative that big money makes big business omnipotent (or omniscient) may be due for fact-checking.

"Damage from Superstorm Sandy to the electricity system in the U.S. Northeast exposed deep flaws in the structure and regulation of power utilities that will require a complete redesign, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday."

"Almost as soon as the networks had declared victory for President Obama last night, environmental activists announced plans for a White House protest over the fate of a controversial oil pipeline."