"Reversing a decade-old decision, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it plans to require pesticide manufacturers to disclose to the public the inert ingredients in their products."

"A growing worldwide trade in exotic plants and animals, fueled by a fascination with the rare and beautiful, often wreaks havoc on Florida's native plants and animals and costs the nation billions each year."

"It's the holidays... which for some of us means time to deck the halls with boughs of holly and, oh yeah, pick out a Christmas tree.  ... Which tree is greener -- real or artificial."

"The protected areas would encompass 1 million acres containing wildlife, extinct volcanoes, sand dunes and ancient petroglyphs. The senator says the bill could be enacted in late 2010."

"In Yonkers last week, Mayor Philip A. Amicone announced he would veto new legislation requiring that developers of residential and commercial buildings hew to 'green' construction practices -- not because he opposes sustainable development, the mayor said, but because of legal, technical and political issues."

"A record number of endangered manatees died in Florida waters this year, according to the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission."

"A federal jury on Friday awarded more than $100 million to 10 workers who claimed they were injured in 2007 when a toxic substance was released at BP’s Texas City plant."

"COPENHAGEN -- President Obama may have improved his chances for passing global warming legislation in the Senate by forging an interim international agreement here that puts both rich and poor countries on a path to curtail greenhouse gas emissions."

"The fight to keep invasive Asian carp from the Great Lakes reached the nation's highest court Monday as Michigan's attorney general sued Illinois, asking for the closing of two shipping locks near Chicago in perhaps a last-ditch effort to save the region's $7 billion fishing industry."

"One in 110 American children are considered to fall somewhere along the autism spectrum, according to the latest report released by the federal government. The new figure, which was released initially in October, comes from the most comprehensive set of data yet on the developmental health of eight-year-olds."

"Experts say the 10 million gallons of untreated wastewater that poured into Puget Sound off Magnolia last week, while unacceptable, pales when compared with the toxic insults legally funneled into the Sound every day."

"The two U.S. producers of the toxic flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) ... and the largest U.S. importer of this chemical ... today announced commitments to phase out the chemical in the United States."

City leaders celebrated the ground-breaking for New Bedford High School in 1970, apparently not knowing the risks of building it on a toxic dump.

"Extremely high, potentially unhealthy levels of lead dust have been found in the Allegheny County Health Department's dilapidated office building in Lawrenceville that houses the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program."

"It was the slap heard 'round the coalfields: Cordelia Ruth Tucker, wearing the fluorescent-striped shirt of a miner, strode past West Virginia state troopers and into a stream of marchers protesting mountaintop removal mining to deliver an audible smack."