"For decades, diesel trucks and buses have spewed large amounts of soot, smog-causing gases and carcinogens into the air. But new diesel engines are more than 90 percent cleaner than a few years ago, far exceeding the emission reductions required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a new independent study released Thursday. Data show new diesel technologies are working even better than expected."

Scientists are pretty certain climate change is going to cause the sea level to rise. It's happening already, actually. In communities around the Chesapeake Bay, people are getting a sneak preview.

"Deutsche Bank lit a seven-storey-high sign in the middle of Manhattan on Thursday that counts the total amount of greenhouse gases trapped in the Earth's atmosphere."

The 1988 highway death of a family in Oregon, blinded by smoke from fields being burned for weed control, was a story so moving that it spawned a novel. Field burning is so common in Oregon that it threatens people's lungs and health. A legislative struggle to ban it remains unresolved.

"A swirling 'soup' of tiny pieces of plastic has been found in the Atlantic Ocean, and something similar may be present in other ocean areas as well."

"The National Wildlife Property Repository is the resting place for 1.5 million victims of illegal trade. They sit on shelves or in boxes as bracelets, shoes, pelts and more."

"Polar bear populations in and around Alaska are declining due to continued melting of sea ice and Russian poaching, according to reports released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

Estimated U.S. gas reserves have increased by 35 percent, according to a group of experts connected with the Colorado School of Mines -- although much of that increase would come from hydraulic fracturing of shale, a technique whose effects raise environmental concern.

"The Senate approved a $1 billion program yesterday to give vouchers to consumers who trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers for more fuel-efficient models -- a move that dealers hope will revive slumping auto sales."