"The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal."
"The White House is promoting a $5 billion increase in tax breaks for clean energy manufacturing in hopes of contributing to job growth and expanded use of renewable energy."
"Negotiators at the United Nations climate summit scrambled Wednesday to bridge multibillion-dollar disagreements as President Barack Obama and other world leaders prepared to descend on the Danish capital Friday." ... "US Secretary of State of State Hillary Clinton Thursday proposed that major economies including the US come up with $100 billion a year over the next decade for developing nations, in an eleventh-hour effort to break an impasse." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Copenhagen with new offers of conditional aid, but it was unclear whether this would be enough to break the logjam.
"Hardline anti-whaling activists prepared on Tuesday to pursue Japan's Antarctic whaling fleet with support from Daryl Hannah, who criticized Greenpeace for opting out of the annual chase."
"Large swaths of toxic algae have punished U.S. coastal towns at record levels this year, shutting down shellfish harvests and sickening swimmers from Maine to Texas to Seattle."
"Sammy Haddock started working with elephants when he joined the circus at 20, in 1976, a young man's dream. He walked them, groomed them, cleaned up after them. More than once, he later confessed, he beat them."
"COPENHAGEN — Police officers fired tear gas and wielded batons on Wednesday to beat back hundreds of demonstrators outside the global climate meeting here, as a police spokesman said 250 people had been arrested."
"For more than 300 years, residents of Colombia's Pacific Coast area of Tumaco have mostly been left alone to fish or grow bananas .... But in recent years, the peace has been disturbed by new security threats, aggravated by climate change."
"Former US vice president and environmental activist Al Gore called Tuesday for world leaders to meet in Mexico City in July to complete a climate treaty under negotiation in Copenhagen."
"Africa contributes the least to global warming, but stands to suffer the most. That is the case African leaders are making at U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. ... But ... daily survival remains the focus of many Africans."
