Looking at the news items for any given day, you will always have the big stories that make the front page of multiples newspapers and news websites. Each of these stories will generally give you the same facts, quotes and ideas.

However, even within these large news stories there are underreported elements that many news readers will never see. Take for instance, the BP oil spill. Did you know that Interior Secretary for the Obama administration Ken Salazar falsified quotes from scientists in a report in order to aid in the banning of offshore oil drilling? It is these underreported elements that are the center of So You Think You Know. Here are two other “green” stories that the mainstream media’s spotlight missed:

Floods in Pakistan

Of the disasters that occurred in the summer of 2010, the flooding in Pakistan was the most underreported of them all, but was also one of the most devastating. In July, heavy monsoon rains flooded the Indus River Basin, placing one fifth of the nation underwater. Over 2,000 people were killed in this disaster along with the 20 million who became displaced environmental refugees.

Shrinking fish

New evidence is coming to light that suggests human activity is actually speeding the evolutionary process of natural selection, specifically in fish. Earlier this year, scientists noticed that fish in general are starting to shrink in size, particularly in those areas with the highest fishing intensity. This means that in order to be able to reproduce quicker, fish are growing less and maturing faster in order to achieve this goal. Forget human-induced climate change – our next global concern could be “human-induced evolution.”