"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."

"COPENHAGEN — By early Saturday morning, the atmosphere at the European Union pavilion at the Bella Center had turned funereal."

"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."

"Today, as the anniversary of the Kingston mess approaches, the battle over potential new rules to protect coalfield communities and the environment from the dangers of toxic coal ash is just getting started."

"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."

"After two weeks of delays, theatrics and last-minute deal-making, the United Nations climate change talks concluded here early Saturday morning with a grudging agreement by the participants to “take note” of a pact shaped by five major nations."

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.

"When two weeks of climate negotiations finally wound to an overtime finish in Copenhagen, the goal of a new binding treaty to combat global warming still looked elusively far away. And, even for climate activists, the question was: 'Is that so bad?'"

"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."

"After striking out the last three times, the U.S. Forest Service is embarking on another rewrite of the basic planning rule that balances logging against fish and wildlife and clean water in national forests."