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New Species Discovered In The Mekong River Region	A new monkey, a self-cloning skink, five carnivorous plants, and a unique leaf warbler are among the 208 species newly described by science in the Greater Mekong region in 2010 and highlighted in a new WWF report, Wild Mekong.
Artificial 'Islands' to Protect Cattle from Annual Floods in Bolivia	Small-scale dairy farmers in this remote area of Bolivia's northeastern Amazon region of Beni have a new hope for protecting their livestock from the fierce annual floods that start in December. The answer: artificial hills complete with grass and a feed storage shed, where the cattle can wait out the floods.
Britain to Help Carter Center Secure Worldwide Eradication of Worm Disease	In London on October 5, 2011, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter addressed an audience of international journalists and partners to announce that the Carter Center-led global campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease has entered its final stage to end this gruesome waterborne parasitic infection. “The poorest, most isolated, most neglected, quite often, the most hopeless people, on earth…now have new hope that their future will be free of this dreaded disease,” said President Carter.
Badwater Basin: Death Valley Microbe Thrives There: Discovery may lead to novel biotech and nanotech uses	Scientists Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) sluice through every water body they can find in Nevada looking for new forms of microbial magnetism.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Issues First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants	Historic ‘mercury and air toxics standards’ meet 20-year old requirement to cut dangerous smokestack emissions: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, the first national standards to protect American families from power plant emissions of mercury and toxic air pollution like arsenic, acid gas, nickel, sele nium, and cyanide. The standards will slash emissions of these dangerous pollutants by relying on widely available, proven pollution controls that are already in use at more than half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants.
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency to Provide Nearly $2 Million to Revitalize U.S. Urban Waters	The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 7 December 2011 announced it will provide up to $1.8 million for projects across the country to protect Americans’ health and help restore urban waters by improving water quality and supporting community revitalization. The funding is part of EPA’s Urban Waters program, which supports communities in their efforts to access, improve and benefit from their urban waters and the surrounding land. Urban waters are canals, rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, estuaries, bays and oceans.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Releases Guidelines to Ensure Healthy Indoor Air During Home Energy Upgrades	The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Healthy Indoor Environment Protocols for Home Energy Upgrades to better integrate health protections into energy efficiency programs.
Alternative Fishing Gear Can Reduce Shark Mortality:Pew lays out simple steps to cut bycatch numbers	A new global scientific review shows that simple changes in fishing gear could significantly reduce the large number of sharks unintentionally caught in the world’s oceans.
Solvatten Provides Safe and Warm Water	The Solvatten unit is a portable, household item which treats and heats 11 liters of water when exposed to sunshine for 2-6 hours.
Lifecycle of Water in the Susquehanna River Basin May Reveal Answers for Drought Prone Areas	Water is a precious resource many take for granted until there is too little or too much. Scientists and engineers have positioned instruments at the Susquehanna Shale Hills Observatory at Pennsylvania State University to learn much more about the water cycle there. It is one of six Critical Zone Observatories in the United States.