2.1%

What man has not dreamed at some time of being Adam, plopped on this floating rock and told to survive. It is the theme of many a movie—Swiss Family Robinson, Cast Away—and even escape rooms and post-apocalyptic stories are really disguised fantasies of a first human, blinking in the light, thrown in a world with no instruction manual and ordered to master it (Genesis 1:26). This is both God’s playfulness and His gift to us, the presents He has hidden to be found and unwrapped one by one.

The Keystone XL pipeline hit another obstacle Friday when a court blocked the Trump administration’s construction permit and ordered an environmental review. The $8 billion pipeline would begin in Alberta, Canada, and connect to an existing pipeline in Steele City, Neb., that goes all the way to the Gulf Coast. The Keystone XL could transport up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris ruled that the environmental impacts of the project had not been considered as federal law required.

Trees planted along busy city streets can provide shade by day, but could they also provide light at night? Researchers in Denmark want to isolate the genes that cause ocean algae to glow and insert them into trees, creating natural streetlights.

“We could try to change some of that lighting from conventional, electricity-consuming lights to a more natural way of creating light,” Kristian Ejlsted, CEO of Allumen, a startup based near Copenhagen, told Fast Company.

A decade ago, Americans might have admitted to feeling a bit guilty about doing their Christmas shopping online. Not anymore. It appears the shift toward increased online shopping has done more than merely save time during the busy holiday season: According to new research, online shopping, video streaming, and work-from-home arrangements have together led to a decrease in Americans’ use of energy.

The White House on Thursday moved to vastly expand offshore drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic oceans. The new five-year drilling plan also could open up federal waters off the California coast for the first time in more than three decades. It could also allow new oil and gas exploration off the East Coast from Georgia to Maine, where the government has blocked drilling. The plan would let private companies access 90 percent of the nation’s offshore reserves. Critics, including some Republican lawmakers, say new drilling puts the environment at risk.

A construction company blamed for a crippling power outage on North Carolina’s Outer Banks faces lawsuits from businesses that are suffering during peak tourist season. PCL Construction damaged three electric cables Thursday while working on a replacement bridge over the Oregon Inlet. All power to Hatteras and Ocracoke islands went out, causing authorities to evacuate about 50,000 tourists. ABC 11 in Raleigh, N.C., reported it could be another six to 10 days before the power is restored.

CANNON BALL, N.D.—Brightly colored tents, campers, and tepees span nearly a quarter-mile along the banks of the Cannonball River an hour south of Bismarck, N.D.. Flags from tribes across the country flap in the wind along the dirt road through the camp. Horses graze on prairie grasses, children run, and smoke from campfires wafts into the cloudless sky.