China

China is making news with its new plan to clean up its polluted lakes. Read the full article in the New York Times which explains how the Chinese government plans to reduce pollution in China's lakes by 2010, with the hopes of returning them to their original state by 2030.

I've made no secret of my contempt for coal, sharing David Roberts' opinion that it is, as much as anything else in the world, "the enemy of the human race."

File this under: Didn't see that coming. On Tuesday China announced that they're cracking down on plastic shopping bags. The sudden, surprising announcement calls for a total ban on ultra-thin plastic shopping bags, and disallows retailers from handing out any free bags to customers, starting June 1st.