http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/24/world/asia/living-in-chinas-expanding-deserts.html Source:   By Josh Haner, Edward Wong, Derek Watkins, and Jeremy White, The New York Times For Investigation:  10.3 Excerpt: People on the edges of the country’s vast seas of sand are being displaced by climate change. In the Tengger Desert, China — This desert, called the Tengger, lies on the southern edge of the massive Gobi Desert, not far from major cities like Beijing. The Tengger is growing. For years, China’s deserts spread at an annual rate of more than 1,300 square miles. Many villages have been lost. Climate change and human activities have accelerated desertification. China says government efforts to relocate residents, plant trees and limit herding have slowed or reversed desert growth in some areas. But the usefulness of those policies is debated by scientists, and deserts are expanding in critical regions. Nearly 20 percent of China is desert, and drought across the northe

https://eos.org/articles/map-reveals-hot-spots-for-arctic-greenhouse-gas-emissions Source:   By JoAnna Wendel, Earth & Space news, EoS, AGU For Investigation:  10.3 Excerpt: Across the Arctic tundra in summer, vast lakes and wetlands curve across the landscape, painting lazy swirls of blue against brilliant greens of moss, shrubs, and lichens. Within this landscape of hummocks and hollows looms a threat scientists have yet to fully quantify: Huge amounts of carbon, locked into frozen soil for hundreds to thousands of years, are now escaping from the thawing soil and becoming greenhouse gases. ...Soil is full of organic matter in various stages of decay. As this organic matter decays, greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane get released into the atmosphere. However, perpetually frozen soils, called permafrost, prevent organic matter from decaying, which traps carbon. Scientists estimate that permafrost locks up 1400 gigatons of carbon—more than twice the amount current

http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/10/10/climate-refuges-identified-for-endangered-snow-leopards/ Source:   By Brett Israel, UC Berkeley News For Investigation:   10.3 2016-10-10. Climate refuges identified for endangered snow leopards. . For GSS Losing Biodiversity chapter 8 and Climate Change chapter 8. Excerpt: A new study of snow leopards’ habitat has found that just one-third of their current range will be a refuge from climate change by 2070, as habitat loss and fragmentation in the Himalaya and Hengduan mountains threaten not just snow leopards, but other species in the region. Snow leopards live in remote, high-elevation area on and surrounding the Tibetan Plateau, known as “the roof of the world.” The region is warming more than twice as fast as the Northern Hemisphere on average, threatening endangered species that call it home. Among these species, snow leopards are critically important to the Tibetan Plateau ecosystem because they are apex predators, which keep the ecosyste

http://www.nature.com/news/world-leaders-discuss-ban-of-climate-busting-refrigerants-1.20768 Source:   By Robynne Boyd, Nature For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: After being directed for almost 30 years at substances that destroy ozone, the Montreal Protocol will for the first time target a group of greenhouse gases. Beginning today in Kigali, Rwanda, member states of the United Nations are finalizing the terms of what could be the largest commitment to reducing global warming since the Paris Agreement on climate last December. Delegates are likely to take till the meeting’s final day on 14 October to hammer out the knotty details of an amendment to the protocol. Ideally, the amendment will set the terms for a rapid phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the most common of which is the refrigerant HFC-134a, which has 1,430 times more warming potential than carbon dioxide (CO2) over 100 years. The amendment would stop the manufacture of HFCs and then reduce their use over time....

http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/10/07/climate-change-could-be-a-greater-threat-to-tropical-frogs-than-deforestation/ Source:   By Brett Israel, UC Berkeley News For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: Changes in climate and land use are expected to reduce the livable area for tropical frogs because these species will increasingly encounter temperatures hot enough to harm their behavior, reproduction and physiology. Climate change, however, may be the most destructive force, according to a recent study involving a researcher from UC Berkeley. The researchers found that declines in frogs’ thermally suitable habitat area from climate change alone could be up to 4.5 times greater than declines attributable to land-cover change only, such as converting a forest to agriculture. Unlike humans, frogs rely on external sources to regulate their body temperature, so habitats in which frogs are unable to keep their body temperature below their maximum temperature limit are unlikely to support frog p

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/automobiles/autoshow/range-is-all-the-rage-in-paris-as-electric-cars-steal-the-show.html Source:  By Jerry Garrett, The New York Times For Investigation:  10.3 Excerpt: PARIS — For perhaps the first time at a major international auto salon, the stars of the Paris Motor Show are electric cars. ...this show may end up being best remembered as a tipping point for an electric car revolution poised to challenge the automobile industry’s internal-combustion status quo — although some of the excitement is still speculative, of course. ...Almost every other manufacturer in attendance is offering at least one new model with full electric operation or a hybrid combination of gas and electric. Exhibit A came from the Opel division of General Motors, which unveiled the production-ready Ampera-e — the European version of its all-electric Chevrolet Bolt, which is supposed to go on sale late this year in North America. The five-passenger subcompact Ampera-e prom

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/10/dramatic-move-trudeau-says-canada-will-put-price-carbon Source:   By Wayne Kondro, Science Insider (AAAS) For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: Having campaigned on a promise to reduce Canada’s carbon footprint, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today took a step toward that goal by announcing that his government will impose a pan-Canadian price on carbon, even if that means he must trample on reluctant provincial governments. But some critics say Trudeau’s move doesn’t go far enough, and three top provincial environment ministers protested the decision by walking out of a high-level meeting today. With federal, provincial, and territorial environment ministers meeting in Montreal, Canada, to hammer out a national carbon reduction plan, Trudeau dropped a bombshell on their negotiations. He announced to the House of Commons that Ottawa will impose a $7.62 per metric ton minimum tax on carbon commencing in 2018, which will rise by $7.62 each year unti