"The historic Texas drought caused the Ogallala Aquifer to experience its largest decline in 25 years across a large swath of the Texas Panhandle, new numbers from a water district show."
"The carbon-rich peat forests of northern Sumatra are burning again as palm oil companies break Indonesian law to clear the land for their plantations."
"Humane Society International called it a 'monumental decision' and a 'watershed moment for the global movement to protect sharks.' The conservation group Shark Savers said it 'could be the best news for the oceans in some time.' The major development? The Chinese government announced Tuesday that it would ban the serving of shark fin soup, a prized and expensive delicacy, at official banquets."
"LOS ANGELES -- White abalone, the endangered shellfish that once numbered in the millions off the Southern California coast, have declined precipitously over the last decade and are on the brink of extinction, a study has found."
"PANAMA CITY, Panama, July 4, 2012 (ENS) - South Korea startled International Whaling Commission delegates today by announcing that the country plans to start 'scientific' whaling off its shores."
"MOAPA, Nev. -- Beyond the ancestral hunting fields and the rows of small, sparse homes, the cemetery at the Moapa River Indian Reservation sprawls across a barren hill with the tombstones of tribal members who died young."
"LONDON -- A global study mapping human diseases that come from animals like tuberculosis, AIDS, bird flu or Rift Valley fever has found that just 13 such diseases are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths a year."
"HARTFORD CITY, Ind. -- Across a wide stretch of the Midwest, sweltering temperatures and a lack of rain are threatening what had been expected to be the nation’s largest corn crop in generations."
"LOS ANGELES - The future of the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant could balance on an inescapable question: Is it worth the money to fix it?"
"TOKYO — The nuclear accident at Fukushima was a man-made disaster rooted in government-industry collusion and the worst conformist conventions of Japanese culture, a high-level parliamentary inquiry concluded on Thursday, in a report that also warned that the plant may not have stood up to earthquake damage — a worrying concern as the quake-prone country starts to bring its reactor fleet back online."
