"Christine Bennett remembers her childhood days in Mossville, La., walking to and from school through an alley of industrial plants. 'We had to cup our noses just to breathe,' said Bennett, who for 53 years lived in the southwestern Louisiana town, a longstanding African-American community."

"As decision time looms for a controversial Little Colorado River water settlement, Navajo and Hopi tribal governments are looking increasingly likely to support the settlement – and oppose its companion federal legislation, SB 2109."

"The Shore Plaza East apartments have a stunning skyline view of downtown Boston across the harbor: Waves lap at the foot of the eight-story building; sailboats carve foam trails in the water. These could be million-dollar condos. But, buffeted by winds and the threat of storm-water flooding, these apartments are subsidized housing, reserved for the poor. Despite their first-class view, these residents are especially vulnerable to whatever the air and water may bring to East Boston, a neighborhood that's a magnet for immigrants."

"If you like scary, suspense-filled stories and will get the chance to read only one book this fall … may we suggest the spine-tingling Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States?"

"Head in any direction on Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula and you will reach gushing rivers, placid ponds and lakes -- both Great and small. An abundant resource, this water has nourished a small Native American community for hundreds of years. So 10 years ago, when an international mining company arrived near the shores of Lake Superior to burrow a mile under the Earth and pull metals out of ore, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa had to stand for its rights and its water."

"Two First Nations communities devastated by mercury poisoning nearly 50 years ago are still feeling the impacts from the metal toxins in one of their key water supplies, a world-renowned expert suggested."

"From the house where he was born, Henry Clark can stand in his back yard and see plumes pouring out of one of the biggest oil refineries in the United States."

"UNITED NATIONS -- A five-year report out [Thursday] from a U.N. refugee agency goes to great lengths to say climate change is likely to increase human displacement among nations. What is less clear in the report is what can be done about it."

"Refugee workers in the Sahel region where thousands of Malian refugees are fleeing violence in their country said this week they are witnessing firsthand the knotted challenges of food security, climate change and conflict in Africa."

"Black and Latino toddlers may have significantly higher levels of toxic flame retardants in their bodies than white children, according to a new study that challenges one of industry's chief arguments for expanding use of the chemicals."

"A federal appeals court [Tuesday] upheld a landmark $3.4 billion settlement concerning the Interior Department's mismanagement of American Indian trust accounts."

"NEW YORK CITY -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given his city one of the most detailed and highly publicized plans to reduce carbon emissions and to adapt to rising sea levels and other risks posed by climate change."

"The Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai and Pen d'Oreilles tribes consider Montana's National Bison Range part of their heritage, a link to the animals their ancestors once hunted and worshipped."

"For a good part of its rich history, residents of unincorporated Allensworth, the first African American colony west of the Mississippi, have gone without a reliable supply of safe drinking water."

This is still the case today, where the Tulare County community's wells -- which provide water to the neighboring Colonel Allensworth State Historical Park that commemorates the area's legacy -- exceed federal levels for arsenic.

"The mega-cities of Asia will be the toughest test for climate-change policy as a rising middle class begins to consume goods at rates only previously seen in the west."