"Japan postponed plans for a national emissions trading scheme on Tuesday, bowing to powerful business groups that warned of job losses as they compete against overseas rivals facing fewer emissions regulations."

The first big snowstorm of the year traditionally is celebrated by climate-change deniers. But the World Meteorological Organization says 2010 is on track to be one of the three warmest years on record. Indeed, according to some scientists, the snowstorm and global warming may be related.

"The thousands of tons of salt that made roads passable this week have not reached their final destination, nor had their final effect. As the snow melts, the salt will be flowing into storm drains and beyond, adding to the steady salting of the region's waterways."

"Heavy storms ruptured mains and disabled pumps, spilling thousands of gallons of sewage into the ocean along Southern California's coast."

"Jan. 2 isn’t just your ordinary Sunday. It’s the day the Obama administration will officially start regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and critics have issued dire predictions of economic destruction."

"House Republican freshmen looking to make names for themselves on energy issues in the next Congress have some goals in common: Ramp up domestic energy production, roll back the Obama administration’s environmental rules and ensure that cap-and-trade stays dead."

"Ignoring calls from environmentalists to revisit the status of the polar bear, the Obama administration outlined yesterday its legal reasoning for why it should be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act."

"The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries next year in an attempt to curb global warming."

"The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will seize authority from Texas to regulate major emitters of greenhouse gases because Gov. Rick Perry and state regulators refused to implement the rules."

News accounts often present a false balance between the central estimate of 5 or 6 degrees Fahrenheit global warming (for doubled carbon dioxide) and much lower estimates put forth by fossil-industry-funded "skeptics" at the fringes of legitimate science. In fact, the skeptics' take should be balanced by the real worst-case estimate from mainstream science: 18 or 20 degrees of warming.