Free Republic

In his speech in Constitution Hall this week, former Vice President and renewable energy investor Al Gore extolled a stretch goal challenging America to achieve 100% renewable power within 10 years. The quote: "Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years." And my favorite part: "When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and 2 months later,...

Former Vice President Al Gore urged Congress not to overturn a federal ban on offshore drilling and complained that lawmakers are "being stampeded by lobbyists for special interests" eager to lift the moratorium. In a speech and interview, Mr. Gore called for moving the U.S. toward "zero-carbon" electricity over a decade, and reiterated his support for a carbon tax accompanied by a "sharp reduction" in payroll taxes. "We have to switch from carbon-intensive fuels to renewable energy," Mr. Gore said. Although some recent opinion polls have found evidence of a shift in public opinion toward favoring more domestic drilling as...

The price of European emission permits is rising so rapidly that German companies are threatening to leave the country.... And the environment may, in the end, be no better off. They sat silently through two lectures, but then they couldn't control their anger any longer. The civil servants from the Environment Ministry, the Environment Agency and the German Emissions Trading Authority made it sound easy for industry to take up carbon trading. It was just too much for the managers to tolerate. "If that's the shape the trading will take, we will simply move our cement operation to Ukraine," a...

Energy: A day after House Democrats pretend to be in favor of drilling, Sen. Diane Feinstein calls offshore drilling a "distraction." Mark Sept. 30 on your calendar. It's the day Democrats have to put up or shut up.When President Bush lifted the executive order banning exploration and drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, two things happened almost immediately: The world price for oil started to drop and the Democrats panicked. They could no longer hide under the umbrella the order provided. On Sept. 30, when the Interior Department's 2008 appropriations expire, the Democrats will have to reauthorize the congressional ban...

WASHINGTON - In May 1998, at the urging of the state's coal industry, the Illinois Legislature passed a bill condemning the Kyoto global warming treaty and forbidding state efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. Barack Obama voted "aye." The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee now calls climate change "one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation," and proposes cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. But as a state senator, from 1997 to 2004, he usually supported bills sought by coal interests, according to legislative records and interviews.

July 18, 2008 Posted By Marc Morano – 3:25 PM ET – Marc_Morano@EPW.Senate.Gov Gore’s (Really) Inconvenient Timing – ‘Consensus’ On Man-Made Global Warming Collapses in 2008 UN Warned of 10-Year Climate 'Tipping Point' in 1989 Former Vice-President Al Gore came to Washington on July 17, 2008, to deliver yet another speech warning of the “climate crisis.” “The leading experts predict that we have less than 10 years to make dramatic changes in our global warming pollution lest we lose our ability to ever recover from this environmental crisis,” Gore stated. But the former Vice President, who has been warning of...

The Earth's PR Rep exposed

TACOMA - A key participant in the 2001 arson that destroyed the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison. Jennifer L. Kolar, 33, of Seattle also was ordered to pay more than $7.1 million in restitution in connection with the fire, which also destroyed priceless research projects and endangered plants. The sentencing, by U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess, came after Kolar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson, two counts of arson, one count of attempted arson and using a destructive device during a crime of violence. Kolar was part...

SANTA BARBARA: THE HORROR, THE HORROR! Published July 18th, 2008 “Santa Barbara is sometimes referred to as the American Riviera. Her beautiful beaches, majestic mountains and colorful culture make Santa Barbara a premier resort destination.” (Quoted from the City of Santa Barbara home page: http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/Visitor/) Do note that the first feature mentioned is the town’s “beautiful beaches.” Not mentioned is the fact that some of the most expensive real estate on the planet is located in and around the area. No, I’m not a Santa Barbara realtor. However, Santa Barbara’s beauty and prosperity put the lie to Speaker of the...

Former Vice President Al Gore, delivering a speech in Washington on environmental issues, said global warming, not terrorism, is the No. 1 threat to America. The former V.P. encourages a national switch to earth-friendly power sources. (Video at Link) *barf alert is standard for algoreWhile he praised both Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain for their stands on environmental issues, Gore challenged the next president to take bold steps to solve the problem. "Both are serious and must be addressed. That having been said, I think that the climate crisis is, by far, the most serious threat we have ever...

In a speech yesterday here in Washington, Al Gore challenged the United States to "produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun, and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years. This goal is achievable, affordable, and transformative." (Well, the goal is at least one of those things.) Gore compared the zero-carbon effort to the Apollo program. And the comparison would be economically apt if, rather than putting a man on the moon—which costs about $100 billion in today's dollars—President Kennedy's goal had been to build a massive lunar colony, complete with a casino where the Rat Pack could perform. Gore's...

Al Gore today called for replacing all carbon based electric power generation with alternative forms, primarily wind, solar, and geothermal in the next ten years...I pulled up these Intellicast wind maps a few hours after he delivered his speech. They cover the entire eastern portion of the country at 10PM EDT. Seems to be a problem. It’s night (no solar) and there’s no wind. It happens!

I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector. FullCAM models carbon flows in plants, mulch, debris, soils and agricultural products, using inputs such as climate data, plant physiology and satellite data. I've been following the global warming debate closely for years. When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty good: CO2 is a greenhouse gas, the old...

A mathematical proof that there is no “climate crisis” has been published in a major, peer-reviewed journal; Physics and Society, a learned journal of the 46,000-strong American Physical Society. Christopher Monckton, who once advised Margaret Thatcher, demonstrates via 30 equations that computer models used by the UN’s climate panel (IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values for the three variables whose product is “climate sensitivity” (temperature increase in response to greenhouse-gas increase), resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2’s effect on temperature in the IPCC’s latest climate assessment report, published in 2007. The article, entitled Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered (page 6)...

WASHINGTON (7-15-08) - Mathematical proof that there is no “climate crisis” appears today in a major, peer-reviewed paper in Physics and Society, a learned journal of the 10,000-strong American Physical Society, SPPI reports. Christopher Monckton, who once advised Margaret Thatcher, demonstrates via 30 equations that computer models used by the UN’s climate panel (IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values for the three variables whose product is “climate sensitivity” (temperature increase in response to greenhouse-gas increase), resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2’s effect on temperature in the IPCC’s latest climate assessment report, published i n 2007. Snip

Henry Kissinger was reported to have said, “Control the food and you control the people.” Controlling people is as simple as controlling food, water and energy through a variety of controls. “No Farmers No Food,” the bumper sticker distributed by The Adopt a Farm Family ministry, is a message of warning. The Adopt ministry was started by Mary Myers, wife of Peter Myers, former Deputy Secretary of Agriculture who served in the Reagan Administration. She confided to me that God had instructed her to “watch over the food.” At that time there appeared to be no reason for concern. Now...

For the first time, one can have a whole view of America's carbon output: region by region, city by city. The Vulcan Project has undertaken a holistic inventory—including electricity, heat, transportation, and industry—of local carbon emissions across the nation to create the first carbon map of America. Texas leads the fifty states, and the county of Harris, Texas (encompassing Houston) records the nation's largest emissions by county. Although Texas is second in population after California, its massive industry puts it over the top.

California on Thursday became the first state in the nation to approve green building standards to cut energy and water usage, a move that officials say will help the state meet its ambitious goals to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The plan, adopted by the California Building Standards Commission, requires that all new construction - from commercial buildings to homes, schools and hospitals - reduce energy usage by 15 percent, water use by 20 percent and water for landscaping by 50 percent. A voluntary form of the code is scheduled to kick in on July 1, 2009. "There is no statewide...

ScienceDaily (July 18, 2008) — A greener, less expensive method to produce hydrogen for fuel may eventually be possible with the help of water, solar energy and nanotube diodes that use the entire spectrum of the sun's energy, according to Penn State researchers...

One day Americans are moaning about the harmful impact of cheap oil and the next they're grousing about the harmful impact of expensive oil. Which one is it? As a disreputable sort, I freely confess to having a fondness for oil. Actually, I have a mild crush on all carbon-emitting fuels that feed our prosperity. But I'm especially fond of cheap oil. For many years, those who spread apocalyptic global-warming scenarios have warned me that a collective national sacrifice was needed to save the world. One option, we were told, was to make gas artificially expensive, forcing our ignorant, energy-gobbling...

President Bush continues to turn up the heat on Congress over its refusal, so far, to lift a ban on offshore drilling that covers much of the nation's coasts. The president's latest salvo came Monday when he rescinded an executive ban on oil and gas drilling, signed by his father in 1990. "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress," President Bush said during a Rose Garden appearance. The executive ban was one of two roadblocks that have for decades protected our fragile beaches from possible...

PARIS (AFP) - The OECD favours a moratorium on expanding biofuel production, a senior official with the Paris-based body said on Wednesday following the release of a report critical of vegetable-based fuels. "It would make a lot of sense to have a moratorium," Stefan Tangermann, head of agriculture and trade analysis at the OECD told AFP...

WARREN, Mich.--Speaking to a group of General Motors Corp. employees, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) promised to provide a $5,000 tax credit for Americans who buy electric-powered cars such as the future Chevy Volt and "other automobiles that put us on the path to energy independence," even as he suggested he might alter his climate plan to aid the auto industry.

Good news! Despite the recent global warming alarmism in the media that Arctic ice might melt away completely from the North Pole this summer, the latest scientific observations show that Arctic ice has actually increased by nearly a half million square miles over this time last year. This is in stark contrast to the Chicken Little hysteria that was being promoted less than a month ago on the CBS Early Show as reported by Kyle Drennen on June 27 here in NewsBusters: On Friday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Maggie Rodriguez teased an upcoming interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair about...

Let's suppose that people do decide to "buy local" with the goal of saving the world and reducing their carbon footprint. This will increase the demand for locally grown foods, but it will also have an unintended and likely deleterious consequence; it will increase the demand for farm implements and labor. Since the decision to buy locally is essentially the decision to forsake comparative advantage, every unit of agricultural output will be more resource intensive than it would be under specialization, division of labor, and trade. In other words, each additional unit of output will require more resources than it...

PARIS (AFP) - French nuclear safety authorities said Friday that a broken pipe at a nuclear fuel plant in southeast France had caused a radioactive leak but no damage to the environment. The latest uranium spill at the plant run by nuclear giant Areva in Romans-sur-Isere came amid much public concern over a leak at another facility last week that polluted the local water supply. < > The FBFC plant produces nuclear fuel for some of France's 58 reactors, the world's largest network after the United States and which produces 80 percent of the nation's electricity. < >

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore on Thursday urged the United States to wean the nation from its entire electricity grid to carbon-free energy within 10 years, warning that drastic steps were needed to avoid a global economic and ecological cataclysm. Like a modern Jeremiah, Mr. Gore called down thunder to justify the spending of trillions of dollars to remake the American power system, a plan fraught with technological and political challenges that goes far beyond the changes recently debated in Congress and by world leaders. “The survival of the United States of America as we know it is...

Arctic sea ice extent on July 16 fell roughly between the extent for the same day in 2007 and the long-term average. The spatial pattern of summer ice loss has evolved differently from last year; this reflects the prevailing pattern of atmospheric circulation. Areas of low-concentration ice are also developing at unusually high latitudes. Note: Analysis updates, unless otherwise noted, now show a single-day extent value for Figure 1, as opposed to the standard monthly average. While monthly average extent images are more accurate in understanding long-term changes, the daily images are helpful in monitoring sea ice conditions in near-real...

Now that an executive branch ban on offshore oil exploration has been lifted, the time has come for Democrats in Washington to lift their own ban on increased domestic supply. Americans are demanding that Congress do something about record-high gas prices. They recognize that prices will not go down unless supplies go up. And they also know that the only thing now standing in the way of more domestic supply is the Democratic refusal to allow it...

I was just watching the news for a few minutes. First spoke algore about how we need to have all non-carbon electricity in 10 years. Then spoke Pelosi saying predictable things. But the next thing I saw is what causes my gorge to rise and I had to grab the remote before I became physically ill. It was McCain saying these words: "I have long admired the Vice President's work in the area of....."Is he trying to make people who already have misgivings aplenty about him either stay home or vote for somebody else? Does he really believe what he...

Teddy Roosevelt impressed the nation with his focus on conservation and while he was president was responsible for pushing to conserve our nation's wilderness in the form of sundry national parks, mostly in the western U.S. This was a worthy enterprise, few can deny. But what is the true purpose of these conservatories but to set aside tracts of land away from developers so that nature can prevail? Is it not a given that these lands should be governed by nature and but set aside by government? So, we all agree that government may take the unspoiled wilderness and save...

Thousands of new homes are set to be built on the green belt over the next 20 years under Government plans to force local councils to allow development on previously protected land across the south east. Waste incinerators and landfill sites could also be constructed on green-belt land, parks and even areas of outstanding natural beauty, under the Government proposals released today. Ministers want almost 100 new homes to be built every day in the south east for the next 20 years and are preparing to over-rule local opposition by allowing towns to spread into the green belt. The Government...

On the issue of gasoline prices, Republicans think they have a winner in their call for new drilling and Democrats are playing defense. Democrats need — this is a technical term — a lot more oomph. Al Gore wants to help them. In a speech in Washington on Thursday and in an interview, Gore played his usual role as unpaid party visionary by arguing that we can ease the climate crisis, the economic crisis and the crisis of dependence on foreign energy all at once. "We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it...

The Hybrid vehicle: The diet cola of saving the world. So I drive a H3. Yes, I know I’m an evil, evil man who should be shunned (and if some had their way, stoned or attacked with organically feed dogs). As the price of gas increases so do the unabashed looks of disgust and sneers. Little do most know that my H3 get’s (and yes I checked it) 17 in city/hwy driving and 20 on the highway (at 65-70 mph), but I digress, this isn’t about the maligned Hummer. Now I have absolutely no problem with people wanting to conserve...

Energy Policy: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing the "Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act" to block offshore drilling. The fact is, these offshore rigs may be the ticket to saving both our coasts and our economy.The act would deny oil companies any new leases unless they can show that they're diligently exploring and drilling in existing holdings. It's designed to con the public into thinking the Democrats actually support drilling and the oil companies are restricting supply to drive up prices and profits. Democrats keep talking about "use it or lose it," referring to 68 million acres of existing...

The Oregonian's front page story that Gov. Ted Kulongoski is proposing a range of activities to keep the state's economy moving and green was welcome news ("Kulongoski sees jobs in 'green,' " July 8). Government has a responsibility to respond to social and economic needs, and we're all hoping for a convergence of the two with "green jobs." But the term "green jobs" is being bandied about without any clear definition of what a good green job is, how long it will last and how much taxpayers should kick in to bring such jobs to Oregon. Tax credits without performance...

Robert Redford has been fighting on behalf of the environment for more than 30 years. From producing documentary films about solar power to lobbying Congress, his work has been both in the field and inside the Beltway. These days, he has a new venue for environmental activism: slam poetry. Sponsored by Redford's Sundance Preserve, in collaboration with Youth Speaks, a nonprofit that presents spoken-word performances, the Academy Award-winning actor is getting his message out in rhyme. Redford spoke with Lauren Whitehead, associate director of Youth Speaks, and Simone Crew, slam poet and participant in "Brave New Voices: Youth Speaks! 11th...

My colleague Andy Revkin is doing a great job of point-by-point analysis of Al Gore’s speech today calling for America to rely entirely on carbon-free electricity within 10 years. I’m glad to see Mr. Gore discussing carbon taxes (a topic he once avoided), but I’ve got a few questions about the rest of the speech:1) Can anyone explain why Mr. Gore keeps hurting his own cause with junk science? Andy gives him a deserved smackdown for saying there “seem to be more tornadoes than in living memory.” I can understand why Mr. Gore felt he needed this sort of...

THE HAGUE (AFP) - A Dutch court upheld a new environmental tax on air travellers Thursday as airline KLM warned the levy could cause it to lose up to a million passengers this financial year.

Here's something unlikely to make the cover of Time. From the Science & Public Policy Institute: WASHINGTON (7-15-08) — Mathematical proof that there is no "climate crisis" appears today in a major, peer-reviewed paper in Physics and Society, a learned journal of the 10,000-strong American Physical Society, SPPI reports. Christopher Monckton, who once advised Margaret Thatcher, demonstrates via 30 equations that computer models used by the UN's climate panel (IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values for the three variables whose product is "climate sensitivity" (temperature increase in response to greenhouse-gas increase), resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2's effect on...

Climate change puts U.S. way of life at risk - EPA 17 Jul 2008 19:32:17 GMT Source: Reuters By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under fire for apparently discounting the impact of climate change, on Thursday said global warming poses real risk to human health and the American way of life. Risks include more heat-related deaths, more heart and lung diseases due to increased ozone and health problems related to hurricanes, extreme precipitation and wildfires, the agency said in a new report. "Climate change poses real risk to human health and...

A part-albino Golden Eagle has been found in Southern Colorado and 850KOA has obtained exclusive, copyright photos of the bird just before he was transferred to the Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo. The male eagle is thin and is being treated for parasites. The eagle's feathers are in such poor condition that it cannot fly. However, Raptor Center Director Diana Miller believes the rare eagle will recover and will be released in the Hoehne area in about three months. The eagle was found in the Pinon Canyon area of Southeastern Colorado by Rancher Tony Hass. His wife, Connie, took...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Record growth in the world's poorest countries has failed to prevent an increase in their total numbers of poor people, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Thursday. Recent rising food costs threaten to undercut what modest progress has been achieved, while three quarters of people living in least developed countries (LDCs) still survive on less than $2 a day, it said in a report. Income under $2 a day does not allow most people to meet basic needs for food, water, shelter, health or education, the Least Developed Countries Report 2008 noted. The...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Thursday told a huge gathering of young people that they were inheriting a planet whose resources had been scarred and squandered to fuel insatiable consumption. His latest appeal to save the planet for future generations came in a address to some 150,000 youths in Sydney after he rode through the city's harbor standing on the outdoor deck of a white ferry as dozens of boats blew their horns. "Reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth, erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and...

(CNSNews.com) - Anxious to look like they’re doing something about rising oil and gas prices -- but unwilling to expand domestic oil drilling -- Democrats have introduced a bill that’s supposed to ease pain at the pump by offering alternatives to driving. The bill does nothing to increase domestic energy supply. Instead, it’s focused on the demand side of the equation, and that’s earned it kudos from environmental activists. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, the bill -- called the Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008 -- would allocate taxpayer money to: -- expand public...

The United States should be making all of its electricity with renewable and carbon-free energy in 10 years, former Vice President Al Gore said Thursday. America's security, environmental and economic crises are all related, Al Gore said Thursday. America's security, environmental and economic crises are all related, Al Gore said Thursday. "The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said. In a speech at Washington's Constitution Hall, Gore touched on an array of the nation's current woes, saying the economic, environmental and national security crises are all related. "I don't remember a...

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of electric power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts. “The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,” Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. “The future of human civilization is at stake.” Mr. Gore called for the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon 39 years...

Al Gore hopes to put global warming back at the top of Washington’s agenda Thursday, but some Democrats in Congress are questioning his timing when they are getting pummeled by Republicans over record gas prices. Gore hopes to deliver a major speech on the environment at Constitution Hall in Washington that will “press the reset button on how people are looking at the energy crisis and the climate crisis,” said Brian Hardwick, spokesman for Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. The former vice president-turned-elder statesman has achieved rock-star status within his party, not to mention a Nobel Prize, for his environmental...

An Austin developer has been indicted by a Travis County grand jury on a charge of criminal mischief, accused of illegally cutting down a large cedar tree in South Austin last year. Hunter Wheeler, 36, faces up to two years in prison if convicted of the charge. He declined to comment Wednesday, saying he was not aware of the case. He has previously denied cutting down the tree.

Todays announcement from BLM should serve to remind Democratic leaders that NPR-A is already open for energy production, is already in the process of being leased for energy development, and has otherwise been explored for more than a generation. Democrats brought forth their Use It or Lose It bill without knowing it was already the law of the land... todays announcement is good news for the American people -- and bad news for Democratic leaders who worked furiously to prevent these lease sales from going forward ... Unfortunately, very little happening this week in Washington will get us any closer...