Free Republic

The "Greens" promise renewables, solar and wind power, will replace fossil fuels. After all, the wind and sun are free, and they don't pollute! Oops. Now countries that embraced renewables are so desperate for power that they eagerly import coal, the worst polluter of all! Do they apologize? No. Greens never apologize. Germany was a leader in renewable energy, so confident in solar and wind power that they closed half their nuclear plants. Oops. That leaves Germans so short of power that Germans are now desperate to buy fossil fuels from Russia. Even worse, pollution-wise, high-pollution coal now tops wind...

One of the country's top physicists, who served as the Department of Energy Undersecretary during the Obama administration, is out with a new book that pushes back on climate change hysteria and debunks the politically charged statement that the science is "settled" on the issue. "Physicist Steven Koonin kicks the hornet’s nest right out of the gate in “Unsettled.” In the book’s first sentences he asserts that 'the Science' about our planet’s climate is anything but “settled.” Mr. Koonin knows well that it is nonetheless a settled subject in the minds of most pundits and politicians and most of the...

More than 200 people, including dozens of scientists, are in hiding right now in Germany. I am one of them. I can tell you that I am in Munich, but I can’t tell you my hotel. I can tell you that the scientists will meet on Friday and Saturday to share scientific knowledge, but I can’t tell you where. The meeting, in which scientists will present evidence contradicting an asserted climate crisis, was scheduled to be open to the public, but fascist climate thugs have forced us into hiding. The German government, rather than protecting scientists and free speech, has...

Lost amid the coverage of teen activist Greta Thunberg at last week’s U.N. Global Climate Summit were 500 international scientists sounding a different message: “There is no climate emergency.” The European Climate Declaration, spearheaded by the Amsterdam-based Climate Intelligence Foundation, described the leading climate models as “unfit,” urging UN Secretary-General Guterres to pursue a climate policy based on “sound science.” “Current climate policies pointlessly and grievously undermine the economic system, putting lives at risk in countries denied access to affordable, reliable electrical energy,” said the letter.signed by professionals from 23 countries. “We urge you to follow a climate policy based...

Dr Tim Ball appears to have won the long legal jihad launched against him by climate mullah Michael E Mann. Because his court follows "the English rule" as opposed to the stinkeroo "American rule", the loser (Mann) will have to pay costs - which is as it should be after a decade of entirely meritless litigation. But what if there's a more effective way to silence your critics? Say, by proving scientifically that they should be expelled from polite society. Nature, founded in 1869, is generally regarded (with Science) as one of the two most prestigious peer-reviewed journals in the...

A Democratic National Committee meeting erupted into a bitter battle Thursday morning over the question of holding a climate-specific presidential debate, with party officials stamping down a resolution calling for a such an event in the face of raucous opposition from activists. In a 17-to-8 vote, the DNC’s Resolutions Committee defeated a resolution that called for the candidates to debate each other about their views and policies on climate change — on a national stage. Young protesters filling the room hissed, jeered and sang the union song “Which Side Are You On?” before and after the vote. The two-hour-plus debate...

On Monday night, national radio host Mark Levin read from a frightening article by Tyler O'Neil at PJ Media headlined "AOC-Aligned Climate Group Demands Media Silence 'Climate Deniers'." A group called The Climate Mobilization which advocates for a dramatic "World War II-scale" takeover of the economy to fight global warming, condemned the media for pursuing "objectivity" by giving air time to "climate deniers." "Some media outlets are sacrificing the future of our planet for the sake of appearing objective," Margaret Klein Salamon, founder and executive director of The Climate Mobilization, said in a news release Saturday. "This idea of equating...

In their letter, the Gang of 58 then used Hurricane Florence from last Major tornadoes in the U.S. have been on a downward trend since monitoring began in the 1950s, with record-low activity in 2018. Agricultural productivity and yields per acre have been rising around the world, despite modestly rising temperatures. Yes, there are indisputable facts that don’t agree with what the public is being told about climate change. The letter implies Mr. Trump has political rather than scientific motives. But science does not determine policy, it merely informs the policymakers. The policymakers need an unbiased review of the science....

[pp. S1742-3] By Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. Carper, Mr. Reed, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Markey, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Smith, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Booker, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Merkley, and Mrs. Feinstein): S. 729. A bill to prohibit the use of funds to Federal agencies to establish a panel, task force, advisory committee, or other effort to challenge the scientific consensus on climate change, and for other purposes; read the first time. Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being...

The Closing of the American Mind was Allan Bloom's groundbreaking critique of "absolute understanding" in academia and the way that it undermines critical thinking. If Bloom were with us today, we could imagine him writing a sequel devoted to the way the climate change industry has sought to silence dissent. Chuck Todd gave a stunning example of the phenomenon this morning in his introduction of a Meet the Press special edition on climate change. Todd quite literally announced that dissent would not be tolerated. Here was Todd: "Just as important as what we are going to do this hour is...

The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands is targeting dozens of conservative and libertarian organizations in a racketeering lawsuit against climate change skeptics that has been widely described as an effort to silence political opponents. In a subpoena issued in March, the office of USVI attorney general Claude Walker demanded from Exxon Mobil copies of communications between the oil company and 90 different political and policy organizations “and any other organizations engaged in research or advocacy concerning Climate Change or policies.” The subpoena was part of a national, coordinated legal campaign by state attorneys general and left-wing advocacy groups...

“Groups like ISIL can’t destroy us, they can’t defeat us,” President Obama told reporters in Argentina on Wednesday. “They’re not an existential threat to us,” he said. A few sentences later, he described climate change as a “major” problem. […] “And so it’s important for the U.S. president and the U.S. government to be able to work with people who are building and who are creating things and creating jobs and trying to solve major problems like climate change…” At the same news conference, Obama thanked the Argentine president for supporting the Paris climate change agreement. It is worth remembering...

Officials in Beverly Hills say they tried it all: educational campaigns, usage restrictions and written notices for people suspected of wasting water. Despite those efforts, the community missed its savings target every month since June, when a statewide 25% reduction in urban water consumption became mandatory amid the punishing drought. As a result, state regulators fined the city, saying publicly that its water wasters "should be ashamed." About four months ago, city officials got tough. Beverly Hills sent letters to dozens of customers in November warning them of high water use and urging them to cut back. The city also...

Humans may evolve bizarre features such as webbed feet and eyes like cats in response to changing environments, a scientist claims today. Experts calculated how our physical appearance could change under a number of scenarios, including a 'water world' if melting ice caps cause rising sea levels. They also considered what would happen in a second ice age which could be triggered by an asteroid strike, and if humans colonised other planets. Dr Matthew Skinner, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Kent, examined the three scenarios and worked with artist Quentin Devine to help visualise how humans could look in...

Tuesday at a White House Public Health and Climate Change Summit, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said "normal people," not "climate deniers" will win the fight on global warming. McCarthy said, "When I put a report out on acting on climate like we did yesterday that shows how dramatically our world will change if we don’t act, and just the benefits we can deliver if we do. I am doing that not to push back on climate deniers. You can have fun doing that if you want, but I've batted my head against the wall too many times and if the...

And one of those making the demand is a U.S. senator. Before you say this could never happen, let me ask you: Did you ever think people would be given six-figure fines for declining to bake a cake? And not only that, but see significant numbers of Americans agree with it happening? Orthodoxies are powerful things, and just as the left is riding one that defines non-participation in gay weddings as “discrimination,” it also thinks it can gain mainstream support for the idea that dissent on the global warming orthodoxy is some sort of crime. Actually, if Democrat U.S. Senator...

The Climate Change Business Journal has calculated that global warming is now a $1.5 trillion a year industry. The Business Journal’s report is not available for free online, but its findings are reviewed by the Insurance Journal. They are eye-opening, to say the least: The $1.5 trillion global “climate change industry” grew at between 17 and 24 percent annually from 2005-2008, slowing to between 4 and 6 percent following the recession with the exception of 2011’s inexplicable 15 percent growth, according to Climate Change Business Journal. The San Diego, Calif.-based publication includes within that industry nine segments and 38 sub-segments....

New research confirms that the land under the Chesapeake Bay is sinking rapidly and projects that Washington, D.C., could drop by six or more inches in the next century—adding to the problems of sea-level rise. This falling land will exacerbate the flooding that the nation’s capital faces from rising ocean waters due to a warming climate and melting ice sheets—accelerating the threat to the region’s monuments, roads, wildlife refuges, and military installations. For sixty years, tide gauges have shown that sea level in the Chesapeake is rising at twice the global average rate and faster than elsewhere on the East...

Pope ends first leg of his three-nation South American tour with impassioned plea to safeguard the environmentDelivered message in Ecuador, which has one of the world's most diverse ecosystems but is also reliant on oil He said: 'As stewards of these riches, we have an obligation toward society and toward future generations' (...) 'As stewards of these riches which we have received, we have an obligation toward society as a whole and toward future generations,' Francis said. 'We cannot bequeath this heritage to them without proper care for the environment, without a sense of gratuitousness born of our contemplation...

According to Whitehouse; Fossil fuel companies and their allies are funding a massive and sophisticated campaign to mislead the American people about the environmental harm caused by carbon pollution. Their activities are often compared to those of Big Tobacco denying the health dangers of smoking. Big Tobacco’s denial scheme was ultimately found by a federal judge to have amounted to a racketeering enterprise. The Big Tobacco playbook looked something like this: (1) pay scientists to produce studies defending your product; (2) develop an intricate web of PR experts and front groups to spread doubt about the real science; (3) relentlessly...