"The first official draft blueprint for a deal at the UN climate talks sees targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 or 2.0 degrees Celsius (2.7 or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a document seen by AFP on Friday."

"Three Senators released a broadly-worded blueprint of a climate change and energy bill on Thursday afternoon that they believe can win the 60 votes needed to push the bill through next year."

"When President Barack Obama takes part in the high-level talks of the UN conference on climate change next week, his political opponents will be there too, showing the world why the President has had trouble making a stronger commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

"Here's what the historic meeting in Denmark can—and should—accomplish."

"Ordinary office paper coated with an inky layer of carbon nanotubes or nanowires can make a lightweight, flexible and highly conductive battery or superconductor, according to Stanford University researchers."

"The U.S. Forest Service will receive $40 million more to address public safety concerns and forest health needs arising from the millions of acres of dead and dying trees killed by bark beetles in the West, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter announced Tuesday."

"A common chemical used in the plastic lining of frozen-food dinners and many other products is endangering the development of fetuses in pregnant women, a new study suggests."

"The federal Minerals Management Service has approved a controversial plan by Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. to drill up to three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea on leases it purchased in 2008."

"Food-poor, predator-rich ocean waters caused by climate change likely played a significant role in decimating millions of sockeye salmon in British Columbia's Fraser River ahead of what was supposed to be a bumper year, says a scientific think tank."

"The new head of the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement promised Wednesday to find a way to reduce the impacts of mountaintop removal mining on Appalachian streams, forests and communities. But OSM Director Joe Pizarchik said he would not seek what most coalfield and national environmental groups are advocating: a ban on the practice."