KWADUKUZA, South Africa--A Zulu crowd's ululations welcomed Jacob Zuma, president of the Republic of South Africa, back to KwaZulu–Natal, his home province. He had come to tell them of his commitment to bring them, and the rest of the nation, better access to energy--as well as to announce the distribution of solar-powered hot water heaters and LED lighting systems as well as clean-burning cookstoves.

You need to get out more. Whether it's smog or tiny particles of pollution , Americans face the bulk of their health risks from bad air inside. Why? We spend most of our time indoors.

Editor's Note :  Paul Anastas, the father of green chemistry, is leaving his high-ranking post at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency next month and returning to Yale University . During an interview with Jane Kay of Environmental Health News, Anastas, who will remain at his post for another month or so, said there has been a "growing realization across EPA" that green chemistry "can meet environmental and economic goals simultaneously." During his two years as science advisor and assistant administrator at EPA's Office of Research and Development , Anastas played a key role in many important decisions and issues, including the use of dispersants during the Gulf oil spill and the agency's long-awaited analysis of dioxin.--Marla Cone, Editor in Chief [More]

Humanity has done little to address climate change. Global emissions of carbon dioxide reached (another) all-time peak in 2010. The most recent international talks to craft a global treaty to address the problem pushed off major action until 2020. Fortunately, there's an alternative-- curbing the other greenhouse gases .

I am dreaming of a white Christmas. Certainly, they were rare in Saint Louis where I grew up.

(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled the first-ever standards to slash mercury emissions from coal-fired plants , a move aimed at protecting public health that critics say will kill jobs as plants shut down.

It’s no secret that, as nations continue to grow and develop, they alter the face of the Earth. Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s large-format photographs show how industrial development is restructuring terrains across the world. His work has taken him to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, which forced the relocation  of more than one million people in China, to Canadian mines where tailings, or residue, run through lakes in Ontario, and, most recently, to the dryland agricultural fields of Monegro, Spain. [More]

DURBAN, South Africa--The roughly 3,000 fossil fuel–fired power plants in North America--Canada, Mexico and the U.S.--emit 6 percent of global greenhouse gases , or nearly as much as all of the European Union. In fact, coal-fired power plants around the globe are the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

As delegates gather in South Africa to determine what the world's nations should do about climate change, one might wonder how we're doing? After all, scientists have advised cuts to greenhouse gas emissions since at least the 1980s.

When the world talks climate change --as is currently under way in Durban, South Africa--the main issue is carbon dioxide emissions. CO2 is emanating from the negotiators' mouths and the power plants and cars of their home countries--and that simple molecule is responsible for the bulk of global warming to date.