Bruce Bisset recently brought to our attention an incident in China's Hunan province in which more than 1,300 children who live in close proximity to a manganese processing plant fell ill with lead poisoning. It is now being reported that the plant had originally opened in May 2008 without obtaining approval from the local environmental protection bureau, had stopped production after being ordered to do so, but re-opened in recent months despite the order. Two environmental officials are under investigation.

President Obama will make his first official visit to China in November, with the environment and renewable energy as high level agenda items.

The Obama administation has placed a ban on commerical fishing in a region where rising temperatures are causing sea ice to melt. The region covers about 150,000 square nautical miles, but what stands out is that an administration official began a statement with the words, "As Arctic sea ice recedes due to climate change..." Acknowledgments of any negative effects of climate change were purposefully non-existent under the previous administration.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will now require Florida to regulate runoff into lakes and streams of pollutants like fertilizers and animal waste. This is part of a consent decree to settle a lawsuit which was brought by the Sierra Club, Florida Wildlife Federation and others.

Get Celsias headlines on Twitter: Celsiastweets