"Aggressively reducing emissions of non-CO2 climate drivers could forestall abrupt climate change for up to 40 years, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Without such efforts, even drastic cuts to CO2 emissions will fail to put the brakes on planetary warming soon enough to avoid climate tipping points, the authors warn."

Health problems, some fatal, linger for workers at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City. It is being closed by Honeywell, the latest in a series of contractors who have operated it for the Energy Department's nuclear weapons program. No nuclear weapons were made there -- only non-nuclear components. But some 785 toxic substances were used there. Despite a $65-million cleanup, workers feel abandoned.

"DALI, China -- Justin Franchi Solondz, an environmental activist from New Jersey who spent years evading charges of ecoterrorism in the United States by hiding out in China, was sentenced to three years in prison by a local court on Friday on charges of manufacturing drugs in this backpacker haven."

"Last year, an estimated 17 billion catalogs were sent to U.S. households. ... Now, a growing chorus of environmental groups is sounding the alarm.... Some are seeking a national 'Do Not Mail' registry, modeled on the 'Do Not Call' list."

A rapidly invading plant called Buffelgrass is changing the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona. By causing an increase in fires, it could endanger the iconic saguaro cactus there.

The giant evergreen forests of the American West could play a signficant carbon-storage role as the nation "bridges" to sustainable energy.

A federal agency that is supposed to protect communities from toxic threats is being accused of using bad science to falsely reassure communities, after it reversed its findings in two recent incidents.

"One of the world's largest nuclear plant suppliers has ordered its Canadian division to hermetically seal itself off from its U.S. parent, going so far as to forbid engineers at the U.S. wing from having anything to do with Canadian reactors."

As the 25th anniversary of the chemical leak in Bhopal, India, approaches, the effects are still painfully present. Thousands were killed immediately; tens or hundreds of thousands were injured in the longer term. It could happen in the U.S.

"President Obama today unveiled key details of the U.S. negotiation position headed into next month's global warming talks in Copenhagen, including a provisional greenhouse gas emissions target for 2020 "in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels" and a new itinerary that includes a personal appearance during the opening days of the U.N. conference."