"Americans eat more seafood than just about anyone else. Most of it is imported from abroad. And a lot of it — perhaps 25 percent of wild-caught seafood imports, according to fisheries experts — is illegally caught."

"The American benchmark price for crude oil broke the symbolically important $60 a barrel mark on Thursday for the first time in over five years, underscoring a remarkable drop of over 40 percent since early June."

"Better protecting the world's fast-disappearing mangroves could have big economic, social and environmental benefits, experts said at the U.N. climate talks in Lima this week."

Pope Francis told the Lima climate conference that they had a "serious ethical and moral responsibility" to the poor and future generations.

"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made an impassioned plea [Dec. 11] for all nations to work for an ambitious U.N. deal next year to fight climate change, saying time was running out to reverse a course 'leading to tragedy'."

"LIMA, Peru -- A funny thing happened on the way to a 2015 climate deal: The wall dividing developed and developing countries crumbled."

"It is no secret that the world’s oceans are swimming with plastic debris — the first floating masses of trash were discovered in the 1990s. But researchers are starting to get a better sense of the size and scope of the problem."

"UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stepped up his call for all nations rich and poor alike to fight global warming, seeking to break a dispute over which should move first to rein in fossil-fuel pollution."

"Negotiators pored over draft outlines for a UN pact to curb global warming on Monday, hoping for a breakthrough ahead of the arrival in Lima of ministers and the UN chief."

"HOUSTON — The price of crude oil continued to collapse on Monday, plunging to a five-year low, as oil giants began to scale back their drilling ambitions and pare the ranks of their workers."