Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

Meirav Stardinner receives a snake massage from Ada Barak at Barak's snake spa on September 11, 2008 in Talmei Elazar, Israel. Barack's income comes mostly from exhibiting her plants which eat everything from insects to small mammals. She discovered snakes' therapeutic value after letting people hold them after her act “Some people said that holding the snakes made them feel better, relaxed”, she says. “One old lady said it was soothing, like a cold compress”. Now she uses a combination of big snakes for deep massage and little ones for light massage, though all are non-venemous. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Claudionor Jose de Deus, wearing a Santa Claus costume, arrives at Santa Rosa community to distribute presents to children, on the shores of the Amazon River in rural Manaus, Brazil, December 19, 2015. Jose de Deus is part of a volunteer group that distributes toys to children from poor neighborhoods and riverside communities that are distant from the city. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

A runner participates in the Santa Run 10K race in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, December 19, 2021. This is the first Santa Run since the start of the pandemic. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Canadian artist and mother Ruth Oosterman started collaborating with her 2-year-old daughter Eve earlier this year. Ruth takes Eve’s doodles and adds watercolors to them, turning the collaborative works of art into beautiful paintings.

Dancers Marion Krebs and Judy Ness, right, pose as batter and catcher in front of the Chicago White Sox dugout before start of game with Detroit at Comiskey Park, Chicago, Ill., September 18, 1959. White Sox won, 1-0, to move within two games of clinching the American League pennant. (Photo by AP Photo)