Few energy conferences can match the annual event, organized entirely by students, at MIT for sheer unbridled enthusiasm.

Besides being a keystone of the ocean ecosystem, coral reefs are of huge commercial value. But they are seriously threatened by floods, runoff, rising ocean temperatures and acidity which are all symptoms of our fossil-fuel economy.

"A NASA satellite designed to study aerosols' influence on climate and measure solar energy failed to reach orbit [Friday] morning. The crash marks the second time in two years that a NASA climate satellite has failed to launch."

An author tells the story of the Hawks Nest, WV, hydroelectric tunnel, whose drilling Union Carbide began in 1927. It was run as a mining operation, but not regulated by any government agency. Of the 5,000 men who worked on the tunnel over 18 months, at least 764 men, mostly African-American migrant workers, died of the industrial disease silicosis, well known even then. Managers wore protective masks during inspection visits, but did not provide any to workers. The company hired doctors to tell the men it was their fault, and buried them in unmarked mass graves. West Virginia kept the story out of the state's history curriculum until last year.