"A U.S. Geological Survey study of Butler and surrounding counties found thousands of acres of land and forest disturbance because of Marcellus shale and traditional gas well drilling."

"A Russian court ordered 20 Greenpeace activists from around the world to be held in custody for two months pending further investigation over a protest against offshore oil drilling in the Arctic, drawing condemnation and a vow to appeal."

"Legislators say Congress must fully understand the potential grave consequences resulting from floods."

"Early results from government tests on dead bees this spring and summer show levels of controversial pesticides are comparable with those detected last year, when Health Canada declared a link between the seed-coating chemicals and 'unusually high' bee deaths, the Star has learned."

"On an overcast day in early August, a flotilla of five canoes pushed away from a jetty in Astoria, Ore., near where the Pacific breaks on Desolation Point, at the mouth of the Columbia River."

"STOCKHOLM -- Scientists can now say with extreme confidence that human activity is the dominant cause of the global warming observed since the 1950s, a new report by an international scientific group said Friday."

"Critics of hydraulic fracturing, known widely as 'fracking,' have been pushing hard for natural gas companies to disclose all of the chemicals in the fluids that are used in the process. But what if the companies themselves don't even know what those chemicals are?"

"NEW YORK — Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined plans Thursday for an $80 million effort to curb the poaching and trafficking of elephants in Africa, warning that the continent's elephants could face extinction without swift action."

"A federal judge in California has sided with environmental groups in their lawsuit against the U.S. government over Navy training exercises off the West Coast involving sonar that they say harms endangered whales, dolphins and other protected marine mammals."

"Federal wildlife officials will test a new trap designed to capture Burmese pythons. The Burmese pythons have overrun the Florida Everglades because they have no natural predators."

"OAK BROOK, Illinois -- McDonald’s Corporation, the world’s largest fast food franchise, will replace polystyrene foam hot beverage cups with paper-based cups at all its 14,000 U.S. restaurants."

"In 1987, the government of Thailand launched a huge, unplanned experiment. They built a dam across the Khlong Saeng river, creating a 60-square-mile reservoir. As the Chiew Larn reservoir rose, it drowned the river valley, transforming 150 forested hilltops into islands, each with its own isolated menagerie of wildlife."

"Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble filed an appeal in Richmond Circuit Court on Wednesday to overturn Virginia's sewage sludge regulations."

"The federal government is about to release its final, $500 million cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal, one of New York City’s two Superfund sites, a long-awaited moment in the effort to cleanse more than a century of environmental abuse."

"The short-term spending plan moving through the Senate would eliminate legislative language that allows farmers to continue growing genetically modified crops even if a court has blocked their use."