"NAPLES, Fla. – For their retirement, Pamela and Jaime Duran chose a cottage in Southwest Florida. Here, they could raise chickens, savor the quiet and enjoy the lush backdrop of the historic Everglades. They call it "a little piece of paradise.""

"A report released Tuesday describes ongoing difficulties for sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, brown pelicans, and other species as a result of the Gulf oil spill in 2010."

"Two months after a pond of pollutants at a defunct Duke Energy plant in North Carolina spilled thousands of gallons of coal ash into the Dan River, coating the riverbanks in a “toxic soup” 70 miles long, environmental groups say the state is reneging on its promise to hold the nation’s largest energy company responsible for its actions."

"In New Mexico, Navajo communities worry that uranium mining could contaminate the aquifer that feeds their drinking water. In southeastern states from Alabama to Virginia, residents fear a cluster of coal-powered plants will impact their health for generations. And in the Harlem section of Manhattan, advocates say the high rates of asthma among residents are a “direct result from breathing dirty air.”"

"The San Joaquin River in California is America's most endangered waterway this year, says the national advocacy group American Rivers, known for annually picking the country's 10 most troubled rivers."

"On the days when the municipal trash incinerator known as Old Smokey fired up its furnace, Delphine Bennett could sit on the porch of her shotgun-style house and watch the flames flicker from the chimney. On warm, dry evenings, the escaping embers ignited brush fires in empty lots nearby. More than once, she recalls, the roof of a neighbor's home caught fire."

"L.A. Waterkeeper inspectors collect samples during rainstorms and have them analyzed in an effort to force polluters to clean up."

"An investigation by North Carolina Health News finds water-quality issues from coal waste in municipalities near a Duke Energy coal plant outside of Eden."

"North Carolina regulators are joining with Duke Energy in appealing a judge's ruling on cleaning up groundwater pollution leeching from the company's coal ash dumps."

"The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has exceeded 402 parts per million (ppm) during the past two days of observations, which is higher than at any time in at least the past 800,000 years, according to readings from monitoring equipment on a mountaintop in Hawaii. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the most important long-lived greenhouse gas responsible for manmade global warming, and it is building up in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas."