"Caves are home to some of the planet's most unusual creatures and important drinking water supplies. Now these underground resources are being polluted by surface activities, ranging from sewage spills to old factories. Experts call the problem 'extensive and serious.' Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, Crevice Cave in Missouri and Whispering Canyon Cave in Alaska are examples. 'People need to be aware that there’s a subterranean ecosystem and that what happens on the surface impacts these unique ecosystems in a very real way,' said David Culver, a biologist at American University."

"Japan's prime minister-elect said on Monday he will forge ahead with a tough 25 percent cut in emissions by 2020, despite growing opposition from industry which says the target will hurt the world's No. 2 economy."

"An important opposition deputy this week accused Chile's government of being less than candid with the public about alarming levels of fine particulate pollution found in the nation’s leading cities."

"California's third year of drought has worsened the already dire outlook for endangered coho salmon, as coastal creeks used for spawning dwindle into disconnected pools where fish get trapped and die."

"In a victory for Republicans and the Obama administration’s conservative critics, Van Jones resigned as the White House’s environmental jobs 'czar' on Saturday."

"Window and masonry caulking in hundreds of older schools in New England probably contain very high levels of now-banned toxins that can gradually be released into the air, posing a potential health risk to students and staff, environmental specialists say."

"The Ford Motor Co. has settled a lawsuit filed by residents of a northern New Jersey town over toxic waste dumped there nearly 40 years ago."

"Oregon regulators say they will not support an exemption from federal pollution rules for a cement plant in Eastern Oregon that is one of the largest sources of mercury emissions in the nation."

"At many discount toy stores in this country, products that test at dangerously high levels for lead are still on the shelves -- despite a new federal law to protect children."

"Health Canada on Friday concluded that a chemical considered a possible carcinogen and commonly found in trace amounts in baby shampoo, bubble bath and liquid soap should not be listed as toxic to human health."

"Crops are wilting in the countryside, and the capital's water shortage has turned dire as Mexico grapples with its worst drought in more than half a century."

"Craftsmen who cut granite for kitchen countertops can be at risk of radiation exposure thousands of times above the federal safety limit, according to new research."

"PAVILLION, Wyo. ... residents outside this small rural, farming community blame their water woes -- and what they perceive to be the unusual health problems in their midst -- on hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking,' a common technique used in drilling new oil and gas wells."

"The Gulf of Mexico opened to industrial-size fish farms Thursday after federal regulators declined to oppose the plan."

"The Station fire in the San Gabriel Mountains has taken an enormous toll on the environment."