"Archaeologists who study early hunter-gatherer societies are discovering that even the simplest cultures altered their environments, whether they meant to or not."

Until last August, the Swiss-made reusable aluminum bottles that were an eco-icon, were lined with an epoxy containing trace amounts of BPA, which the Canadian federal government considers a toxic substance.

"UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to visit a Norwegian island deep inside the Arctic Circle, near the North Pole, to see firsthand the effects of climate change, his spokeswoman said."

"Researchers found that two of the Tetons' biggest glaciers have lost more than 20 percent of their surface area since the late 1960s."

"The pesticide DDT almost wiped out the double-crested cormorant. Now, the bird is thriving, and it's blamed for devouring fish in lakes, rivers, and fish farms in many parts of the country. Karen Kelly reports on the struggle to share resources with this unpopular bird" -- on The Environment Report August 25, 2009.

A crabbing license is a cultural icon for Chesapeake Bay watermen, whose way of life is as threatened as the shellfish their ancestors harvested.

Chinese companies like Suntech are using government subsidies to leap ahead of the U.S. in the solar panel market.

Think electric cars are small and wussy? Go out on the drag strip and smell the burning rubber. "Mike Willmon's 1978 Ford Pinto can go from zero to 60 in about 3.5 seconds — just like the $1 million Ferrari Enzo." He built it himself.

"Paint with dangerously high lead levels is still being sold for household use worldwide, putting hundreds of millions of young children at risk of permanent brain damage," new research shows.

"The White House budget update released on Tuesday still reflects a controversial Obama administration plan to combat global warming by auctioning all permits to emit greenhouse gases even though Congress has said it will give away a substantial portion to industry."

The recent Los Padres fire exemplifies a growing trend: Mexican drug cartels setting up shop in California wilderness and parkland.

"Illegal fishing is depleting the seas and robbing poor nations in Africa and Asia of resources, but a lack of global cooperation is undermining efforts to track rogue vessels, an environmental group said on Tuesday."

The city of Chesapeake, Va., will extend public water supply lines to residents around a golf course built on fly ash from a coal-burning utility. But the utility and city disagree on how much the utility will pay.

A simple brass plaque in Tarusa, Russia, stands as a reminder of an epic tale of scores of nuclear disasters in the former Soviet Union that were hidden, or never completely reported.

Feuds and politics seem to have kept former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's state EPA from referring criminal pollution cases to Attorney General Lisa Madigan for at least 2 years.