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Nearly every piece of plastic still exists on Earth, regardless of whether it's been recycled, broken down into microscopic bits or discarded in the ocean. And the world keeps producing more of the material -- creating 288 million metric tons of it in 2012. About 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of it end up in the oceans in 2010, according to a new estimate published in the journal Science.

When people picture sand spread across idyllic beaches and endless deserts, they understandably think of it as an infinite resource. But as we discuss in a just-published perspective in the journal Science, over-exploitation of global supplies of sand is damaging the environment, endangering communities, causing shortages and promoting violent conflict.

The loss and decline of animals around the world - caused by habitat loss and global climate disruption - mean we're in the midst of a sixth "mass extinction" of life on Earth, according to several studies out Thursday in the journal Science.

Thanks to a study published today in the journal Science, we finally have an estimate. Are you sitting down? Humans release between 5.3 million and 14 million tons of plastic into the ocean annually.

An analysis published Feb. 26 in the journal Nature Climate Change shows that the wastewater produced during the processing of palm oil is a significant source of heat-trapping methane in the atmosphere. But the researchers also present a possible solution: capturing the methane and using it as a renewable energy source.

Citing a year's worth of remote-camera photos, the Sierra Club alleged Monday that LG&E has dumped polluted water into the Ohio River "almost daily" from a coal-burning waste pond at its Mill Creek power plant, violating a permit that allows only "occasional" discharges.