Maria Neira: If we improve our health care, we can beat climate change (Independent) The human cost of climate change may be measured in the toll imposed by droughts, floods and heat-waves. The World Health Organization (WHO) and climate change experts have warned of the adverse effects global warming has on air quality, food production, water availability and the distribution of infectious diseases. Yet policy-makers, and even the health community, have given insufficient ... [News Source]

An eroding mission at EPA. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, whose image over four years morphed from scientist to ideologue, will leave office as one of Bush's most loyal and controversial cabinet members. His decisions alarmed environmentalists, infuriated his own scientists, and led to calls from Democrats for his resignation. [News Source]

The hidden cost of our growing taste for meat. As the west's appetite for meat increases, so too does the demand for soya - used as animal feed by farmers. But the planting of huge tracts of land is causing deforestation, destroying eco-systems and, some say, making people sick in developing countries. [News Source]

It’s official: Men really are the weaker sex. Evolution is being distorted by pollution, which damages genitals and the ability to father offspring, says new study. [News Source]

Obama pledges public works on a vast scale. President-elect Barack Obama promised to create the largest public works construction program since the inception of the interstate highway system a half century ago, to include green jobs that reduce energy use and global warming emissions. [News Source]

Iceland puffin threatened. In Iceland's remote Westman Islands, warming weather is threatening a beloved mascot: the Atlantic puffin. [News Source]

Category 5 hurricane protection plan is delayed again. A long-delayed Army Corps of Engineers plan for protection against a Category 5 hurricane -- a storm as large as or larger than Hurricane Katrina -- will be delayed until at least June, and maybe longer, the project's manager says. [News Source]

Has climate change claimed first mammal extinction? Scientists in Australia report that the white lemuroid possum, native to Queensland, has gone extinct. Previously only found above 1000 metres in mountain forests, the apparent extinction of the mammal has been put down to climate change. [News Source]

Native hunters say climate affecting herds. Chief Bill Erasmus of the Dene nation in northern Canada brought a stark warning about the climate crisis: The once abundant herds of caribou are dwindling, rivers are running lower and the ice is too thin to hunt on. [News Source]

Melting ice may slow global warming. Collapsing antarctic ice sheets, which have become potent symbols of global warming, may actually turn out to help in the battle against climate change and soaring carbon emissions. [News Source]

Experts warn homes not up to scratch. The tile roofs atop Sydney houses are too flimsy and unable to withstand the onslaught of a summer storm season, new research has found. [News Source]