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When I was growing up in Brooklyn, the dog days of summer were marked by the delighted squeals of children, and sometimes their parents, cooling off under the shooting geysers of city water freed from neighborhood fire hydrants. Someone had managed to dismantle city property, sending streams of public water shooting skyward before falling back to the steamy streets to soak and refresh the sweltering kids. It wasn'tlegal, of course - but, boy, was it fun! The fire, police and water departments never pursued the offenders. Instead, city workers, with good humor, reassembled the fire plugs, watched the wasted water flow down the streets and then into the storm drains. There was no angst over wasted water at that time and in that place.

The ultimate clean fuel, at least at first glance, is vegetable oil. Plants make it from sunlight, water, and a greenhouse gas — and they remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. The oil is easily converted into fuel for diesel engines. Around the globe there's now a rush toward so-called "biodiesel."

What steps can be taken to reverse global warming? One approach is to plant trees, which soak up carbon dioxide. The San Diego Regional Energy Office runs a program to plant trees in urban areas throu

The president of Niger acknowledges a poor harvest and problems with locusts. But he rejects international claims of severe famine and starvation. There are concerns that past delays in accepting food aid have led to a higher death toll.

What's the summer gardener to do now that July has arrived? We'll talk with garden expert Nan Sterman about getting the most out of your summer garden.

The United Nations reports that some 14 million people in southern Africa are at risk of starvation, due mostly to drought and the effects of AIDS. But in Zimbabwe, the food shortage is made even worse by a government land-reform plan that has shut most of the nation's most productive farms. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.

Why are those netbook computers so popular right now? What's the newest 3G phone on the market? And, are consumers spending less on tech gadgets this holiday season? We speak to Brian Cooley from CNET about this year's most innovative, and sought-after tech gadgets.

After 15 years, a countywide program that has saved billions of gallons of water is ending. The San Diego County Water Authority's rebate voucher program ends this month. Joanne Faryon has the story.

Parts of Australia are getting drier than ever — so dry that some cities are scrambling to adapt by finding new water sources before it's too late. Perth has just opened the continent's first reverse-osmosis desalination plant — and it's run on wind power.

The deadly conflict in Darfur has deep roots in a vast, arid and long-neglected region in Sudan's west, where battles over water and grazing rights stretch back generations. Scarce resources exacerbate ethnic tensions between black African tribes and Arab-speaking pastoralists and fuel the fighting.