"With pastures withered from a lingering drought, farmers in Texas and northwest Louisiana have abandoned donkeys by the hundreds, turning them into wandering refugees that have severely tested animal rescue groups."

"A future on Earth of more extreme weather and rising seas will require better planning for natural disasters to save lives and limit deepening economic losses, the United Nations said on Wednesday in a major report on the effects of climate change.

"The Obama administration’s proposed rule to control greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants -- the first ever -- could go far toward closing out the era of old-fashioned coal-burning power generation."

"The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday."

"The Environmental Protection Agency will issue the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants as early as Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the proposal. The move could end the construction of conventional coal-fired facilities in the United States.

"Extreme weather events over the past decade have increased and were 'very likely' caused by manmade global warming, a study in the journal Nature Climate Change said on Sunday."