Lobbyists for the real estate industry convinced House leaders to remove from the recently passed climate bill a provision that would have indicated how much energy older houses use.

"One of the world's most common insect repellents [DEET] acts on the central nervous system in the same way as some insecticides and nerve gases, according to a study released on Wednesday."

"A total of 12 forged letters -- all appearing to come from local groups unhappy with a climate-change bill -- were sent to three congressional offices this summer by a Washington lobbying firm, according to the pro-coal group for which the firm was working."

The rise of cooking shows on TV results from deep interest in cooking. But the transformation of cooking into a spectator activity reflects a decline in actual cooking -- which has vast health and ecological consequences.

"Environmental groups today called for new ethical controls in state government, saying recent arrests of two assemblymen involving land deals are only 'the tip of the iceberg' when it comes to the influence developers wield over the Department of Environmental Protection."

"LOS ANGELES -- Marine scientists from California are venturing this week to the middle of the North Pacific for a study of plastic debris accumulating across hundreds of miles (km) of open sea dubbed the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch.'"

"With a deadline looming for approval of a federal plan that would open the Gulf of Mexico to deepwater fish farming, House lawmakers and conservationists are plotting strategies to block such offshore ventures until Congress creates a system to regulate them."

Methane problems in drinking water wells are more common than has been acknowledge by state regulators in Pennsylvania, which is one of the states experiencing a natural gas drilling boom.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won attention along with the Nobel Prize in 2007, now faces a challenge as climate policy and diplomacy lag behind climate science.

"NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- Noxious fumes at a trash disposal facility sent 119 people to hospitals Monday, including two who were listed in critical condition."