By MIKE DUNNE

Global warming or climate change has been a topic simmering on the environmental journalism burners for quite some time. As 2007 began, it boiled over, becoming front-page news across the nation.

There was a steady stream of stories written about an upcoming report by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, then stories about what the report really said followed up by stories about possible regional implications.

 Great Lakes' fate hangs in the balance
THE GREAT LAKES WATER WARS 
By Peter Annin Island Press, $25.95 
Reviewed by TOM HENRY

To those of us who have ever stood along the Great Lakes shoreline and given much thought to the seemingly endless sight of fresh water in front of us, it seems incomprehensible that this part of the country could ever have trouble quenching its thirst

 Death, be not proud: A green sequel on funerals

GRAVEMATTERS: A JOURNEY THROUGH THEMODERN FUNERAL INDUSTRY TO A NATURALWAY OF BURIAL 
By Mark Harris Scribner, $24 
Reviewed by JIM MOTAVALLI

Looking for some bedside reading with a high "eeewwww" factor?

You can't beat Mark Harris' "Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial."

 BY TIM WHEELER

The environment has enjoyed a terrific run in "the media" lately. Climate change has pushed onto the front page of newspapers repeatedly in the past year. It's garnered extended airtime on CNN, Fox and other broadcast outlets, and graced the covers of all kinds of magazines, from TIME to Vanity Fair, Vogue and, most recently, Sports Illustrated.

 By JOANN M. VALENTI

Without a doubt, Everything's Cool, a documentary on climate change, most aptly defined the 25th Annual Sundance Film Festival goers' experience in Utah's below freezing January weather. Record-setting temperatures dropped into negative double digits, an especially challenging experience for the usual hoards of film industry representatives and celebrities from Los Angeles.

 By RON SEELY

 Water, of all the natural resources upon which we rely, is perhaps the one that we take most for granted. We turn on our faucets and out it comes, clear and cool and always there.

 By KEN WEISS