"It's the holidays... which for some of us means time to deck the halls with boughs of holly and, oh yeah, pick out a Christmas tree.  ... Which tree is greener -- real or artificial."

"A growing worldwide trade in exotic plants and animals, fueled by a fascination with the rare and beautiful, often wreaks havoc on Florida's native plants and animals and costs the nation billions each year."

"The fight to keep invasive Asian carp from the Great Lakes reached the nation's highest court Monday as Michigan's attorney general sued Illinois, asking for the closing of two shipping locks near Chicago in perhaps a last-ditch effort to save the region's $7 billion fishing industry."

"COPENHAGEN -- President Obama may have improved his chances for passing global warming legislation in the Senate by forging an interim international agreement here that puts both rich and poor countries on a path to curtail greenhouse gas emissions."

The price of tradeable carbon allowances fell on the EU market in response to failure of the U.N. climate talks to deliver strong limits on carbon dioxide emissions.

"Extremely high, potentially unhealthy levels of lead dust have been found in the Allegheny County Health Department's dilapidated office building in Lawrenceville that houses the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program."

City leaders celebrated the ground-breaking for New Bedford High School in 1970, apparently not knowing the risks of building it on a toxic dump.

"The two U.S. producers of the toxic flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) ... and the largest U.S. importer of this chemical ... today announced commitments to phase out the chemical in the United States."

"Experts say the 10 million gallons of untreated wastewater that poured into Puget Sound off Magnolia last week, while unacceptable, pales when compared with the toxic insults legally funneled into the Sound every day."

"One in 110 American children are considered to fall somewhere along the autism spectrum, according to the latest report released by the federal government. The new figure, which was released initially in October, comes from the most comprehensive set of data yet on the developmental health of eight-year-olds."