http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33317451 Source:  By Helen Briggs, BBC News. For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: China - the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases - has announced details of its climate action plan. ...The statement, released following a meeting in Paris between Li and French President Francois Hollande, said China aimed to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65% by 2030, from 2005 levels. The carbon intensity target builds on a previous plan to cut carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020. China also aimed to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to about 20% by 2030, the statement added. Beijing previously set a goal of getting around 15% of its energy from clean sources by 2020....

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/25/us-pakistan-heatwave-idUSKBN0P40FV20150625 Source:   By Syed Raza Hassan, Reuters For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt:  The worst heat wave to hit Pakistan's southern city of Karachi for nearly 35 years has killed more than 1,000 people, a charity said on Thursday, as morgues ran out of space and residents rushed to supply over-stretched public hospitals....

http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/world-religious-leaders-climate-change Source:   By Nicole Greenfield, OnEarth, NRDC For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: When it comes to climate change, Pope Francis and many other world religious leaders are cut from the same cloth.  ...maybe it’s no surprise that yesterday Pope Francis delivered the Roman Catholic Church’s first-ever encyclical on the environment —most notably, on climate....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/science/risk-of-extreme-weather-from-climate-change-to-rise-over-next-century-report-says.html Source:   By Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: More people will be exposed to floods, droughts, heat waves and other extreme weather associated with climate change over the next century than previously thought, according to a new report in the British medical journal The Lancet - http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/climate-change ....

http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2015/06/feature-researchers-push-prevent-last-dance-lesser-prairie-chicken Source:   By Marianne Lavelle, Science For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: ...as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens once lent crimson to the often beige landscape of the midwestern and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species' historic range. The birds are found in five states: Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas—which holds an estimated 60% to 70% of the remaining population. The birds “are facing a tremendous number of threats,” says retired biologist Randy Rodgers, an expert on “lessers” who spent 37 years with the Kansas wildlife department. Lessers can tolerate some human disturbance, he says... “But as with many things,” Rodgers says, “a little is good. A lot is not.” Beginning in the 1950s, modern center-pivot irrigation farming became a major threat, carving crop circles i

http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/mysterious-warm-water-blob-in-pacific-wreaking-havoc-150617.htm Source:   By Patrick J. Kiger, D news For Investigation:   9.2, 9.3, 10.3 Excerpt:  A large expanse of unusually warm water in the northern Pacific Ocean continues to grow and is having a profound effect upon marine animals from Mexico to Alaska, and may be altering weather across the continent. “The blob,” a term coined by University of Washington meteorologist Nicholas Bond, who was among those who first observed it in late 2013, consists of  water that is roughly around 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the typical ocean temperature. While that may not seem like much of a difference, the circular patch of warmth, which started as a small patch of water off the coast of Alaska, has grown to 500 miles across,and is the biggest and longest-lasting temperature anomaly in the historical record. ...Scientists aren’t sure exactly what caused the blob, but they think it may have links

http://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/ Source:   American Geoscience Institute For Investigation:   10.3 AGI’s Critical Issues Program provides introductory information on issues at the intersection of geoscience and society, including energy, climate, water, natural hazards, and mineral resources....