"At the Seoul G-20 Summit [Friday], leaders of the world's 19 most industrialized nations and the EU said they have made 'substantial progress' toward phasing out fossil fuel subsidies in the 14 months since their decision to do so at last year's G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."

"The United Nations and its partners have finalized a $164 million plan to support the government of Haiti's response to the current cholera epidemic. To date, more than 12,000 Haitians have been hospitalized, and over 800 people have died, the UN reports."

"The Arab world, one of the driest regions on the planet, will tip into severe water scarcity as early as 2015, a report issued [Nov. 4] predicts."

NDM-1, a gene that gives most gram-negative bacteria a resistance to almost all drugs used to treat them, has been spreading across the globe rapidly since it was discovered in 2008. It has been found in hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. It is bad news.

In a new book, a Dutch researcher says a new class of insecticides, the neonicotinoids, may be causing as much damage to bird populations as the DDT Rachel Carson wrote about in Silent Spring. Some bird populations in Europe are crashing dramatically.

"U.N. climate talks starting in Mexico this month will seek a complex set of interlocking deals to slow global warming but will fall well short of a new treaty, the U.N.'s climate chief said on Wednesday."

Must China really dominate the future world market in rare earth minerals so crucial to a green energy economy?
 

A new joint study by the World Bank and the U.N. says that the cost of preventing disasters related to climate change would be far less than post-disaster cleanup.

"Abolishing fossil fuel subsidies would boost the world's economy, environment and energy security, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, referring to a pledge made by G20 countries."

"Eager to win approval for its stalled plan to drill for oil in the Alaskan Arctic, Royal Dutch Shell is beginning a public lobbying campaign, including national advertising, on Monday."