Attorney General speaks out on global warming (The Pinnacle) California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has urged the Environmental Protection Agency to reverse years of "shameful inaction" on global warming by using its authority under the Clean Air Act to combat dangerous climate change. [News Source]

Dying for a drink. The reason for the world's growing water woes is evident in the numbers. The planet fairly sloshes with water, but only 0.014% is available for human use. The rest is nonpotable ocean water or inaccessible freshwater. And the available water is far from evenly distributed. [News Source]

Environmental groups bash ‘clean coal’ in new campaign. The phrase "clean coal" was repeated by virtually every major presidential candidate this year. Now the battle over what it means is heating up. [News Source]

Point of no return for the Arctic climate? Climate researchers have long been warning of "tipping points," and that crossing them could mean irreversible developments for eco-systems and humanity. [News Source]

Climate change, population increases will slow flows, and add strain to the Colorado River. Seven Western states will face more water shortages in the years ahead as climate change exacerbates the strains drought and a growing population have put on the Colorado River, scientists say. [News Source]

Many children lack stability long after storm. After more than three years of nomadic uncertainty, many children of Hurricane Katrina are suffering from extraordinarily high rates of illness and mental health problems. And parents are struggling to keep the lights on and the refrigerator stocked. [News Source]

Report shows Delaware River’s improvements, problems. Along the Delaware River, flooding is getting worse; new contaminants are showing up, and brook trout have all but disappeared from its tributaries. On the land, one football field's worth of forest disappears every two hours. [News Source]

Army Corps starts work on massive storm barrier. Workers kicked off construction this week of a 26-foot-high barrier aimed at blocking hurricane storm surge from entering the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. [News Source]

Fires to get bigger. There is no way to fire-proof Sydney, and big bushfires are expected to burn up to 35 per cent more land around the city by the year 2050 as a result of climate change, the first detailed government study of the region has confirmed. [News Source]

India loses more people to climate change than any other country. Between 1998 and 2007, India has lost more people due to extreme weather events caused by climate change than any other country, with an average of 4,532 people killed every year, a well-known German NGO has calculated. [News Source]

Weather disasters claimed 15,000 lives, report says. The Global Climate Risk Index 2009 by the environment and development group Germanwatch puts Bangladesh at the top of the list of countries most affected by weather-related disasters last year. [News Source]