A lot of stuff can happen in a year. And because one major story dominated the news landscape this year (it rhymes with "bothersome erection"), a lot of smaller stories got pushed aside, including some that were pretty damned important. Here, then, for your election-ignoring pleasure, are some of the huge stories of 2016 that you might have missed.

8 2016 Was The New Hottest Year On Record

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Look, if you don't believe that climate change is real, there's probably not a whole lot we're going to say in the next couple of paragraphs that will change your mind (although you'll no doubt read it anyway to try to refute us in the comments, so thanks for that). If you don't want to take responsibility for the state of the planet, that's on you. The rest of us are going to talk about our options.

Here's the main takeaway: 2016 is on pace to be the hottest year on record. The current record holder? 2015.

NOAA

Which means this probably isn't going to be a safe record for long.

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The fallout from this is anywhere you care to look. Yes, California's epic drought has improved, and is now "terrible" instead of "calamitous," but did you know New England is also currently in a drought? Dry wells, thirsty residents, and massive amounts of dead fish -- so all the fun parts of the Bible, then. Another fun factoid: In 2010, New Orleans had 13 nights when the temperature didn't drop below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This year, it was 43. Combined with the fact that about one-third of New Orleans' population doesn't have air conditioning, that alone could have been one of the biggest missed stories of the year, considering the misery it caused.

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Oh. And the ground in Siberia is now wobbling.

The good news is that we can still take action. It'd be helpful if we took that action now, mind you, and also took it 20 years ago, if possible. But we can still do something now. Each and every one of us should be pestering our politicians to take action on climate change, planting several trees a day, and trying to do all our grocery shopping in one, maybe four trips a week. That'll ensure that ... well 2017 is already almost certainly fucked.

It'll help 2117 not look like The Road Warrior, maybe.