This season marks the 110th year for the Audubon Society's Christmas bird count, which has been the basis of hundreds of scientific publications about changing bird ranges linked to global warming and habitat change.

"A beef industry group has challenged a ruling by U.S. environmental regulators that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, saying the move would hurt agriculture."

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will miss its third self-imposed deadline on letting consumers know whether it is safe to use products made with bisphenol A, a chemical ingredient in the lining of most food and beverage cans."

"A controversial roundup of 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in Nevada began on Monday amid protests from activists who call it needless and inhumane."

"Earth's various ecosystems, with all their plants and animals, will need to shift about a quarter-mile per year on average to keep pace with global climate change, scientists said in a study released on Wednesday."

"The next round of the battle over climate change policy on Capitol Hill will involve more than the usual suspects. Way more. Watch soup makers face off against steel companies. Witness the folks who pump gas from the ground fight back against those who dig up rock. And watch the venture capitalists who have money riding on new technology try to gain advantage in a game that so far has been deftly controlled by the old machine."

"Sen. Max Baucus, one of Montana's two senators and a chief figure in the federal government's attempt to pass health care reform, added a provision to the U.S. Senate version of the bill that would expand Medicare coverage to 'individuals exposed to environmental health hazards.'"

"During a warm spell this fall, vandals hauled 18 decrepit televisions and computers down a narrow gravel road in Utah's picturesque Skull Valley, dumped them on a hillside, blasted them with guns and left them for dead."

"Toxic chemicals have crept into the drinking water in a corner of rural Grundy County [Illinois], stoking fears and raising suspicions about who is to blame."

"If the victims of contaminated Chinese drywall have a hope of relief, it is likely U.S. District Court Judge Eldon E. Fallon."

Chemical company executives withheld from the Illinois EPA detailed information about a 1978 chemical spill as plans were being made to clean it up.

"China on Friday defended the role played by premier Wen Jiabao at climate change talks in Copenhagen this month after a barrage of international criticism blaming China for obstructing negotiations."

"Kiddie Kollege, a day-care center that opened inside a heavily contaminated building in Gloucester County with a fresh coat of paint and little else, is about to be razed, nearly four years after state inspectors discovered the contamination."

The practices of feeding farm animals low doses of antibiotics is helping breed lethal new super-bacteria that are resistant to treatment when they infect humans.

The nuclear industry may get a shot in the arm -- as the Energy Department is set to announce $18.5 billion in new loan guarantees.