Free Republic

Dr Casey explains what to expect climate wise, over the years to come. Over 40 minutes long.

A sad case of self-immolation with fossil fuels, to protest fossil fuels A green activist who was a pioneering lawyer for gay and transgender rights — including in the infamous “Boys Don’t Cry” murder case — committed suicide by setting himself on fire Saturday morning in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.In a gruesome protest against the ecological destruction of the earth, David Buckel, 60, left behind a charred corpse and a typed suicide note that said he was burning himself to death using “fossil fuel” to reflect how mankind was likewise killing itself, police sources said. He left the note behind in...

A spring blizzard that brought heavy snow and whiteout conditions to much of western and central Nebraska has shifted to northeast Nebraska. And if you think the Omaha area has avoided the snow, just wait a little bit. It's still coming, but it shouldn't cause nearly as much trouble as it has elsewhere. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for east-central and southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa until 10 p.m. Additional snow accumulations of up to 2 inches and minor ice accumulations of are expected, the weather service said. Drivers should expect to encounter slippery roads.

“Ignorant, dangerous, and absolutely unbelievable.” This is how Mike Pompeo, then the nominee for CIA director, described the idea that climate change threatens our nation’s security in his 2017 Senate confirmation hearings. It’s also how our generation and many to come will remember any senator who votes to confirm Pompeo as our next secretary of state. Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Pompeo to replace the former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson signals loud and clear that he wants fossil fuel barons to continue running our government and state department. Infamous as the “congressman from Koch”, Pompeo is the top all-time recipient...

A report to be released Friday by the University of Massachusetts points to the challenges the city and the region face in funding solutions to combat climate change, with local neighborhood projects expected to amount to $2.4 billion. The report recommends a layered approach of federal, state, city, and private financing strategies, including: â–  A statewide carbon tax and an increase to the state gas tax that could support a climate resilience fund. â–  The possibility of a Boston climate resilience fee based on water and sewer bills, which could fund city general obligation bonds. â–  The creation of climate-focused...

NORTH ABINGTON TWP. — From wreaking havoc on the Susquehanna River’s smallmouth bass to changes in migration and breeding patterns of butterflies and robins, global warming is changing our world, retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Ed Perry said. During a talk Thursday at Lackawanna State Park, Perry warned that if nothing is done to slow climate change, Pennsylvania’s plants and animals could suffer catastrophic consequences. About 10 people attended the event.

It seems a little churlish to prod Jerry Brown on carbon issues. He's done as much as any leader in the world to move forward on the climate and energy crises that are the defining challenges of our time. All of California's environmental measures have been aimed at reducing the demand for energy, and none at slowing down the production of fossil fuel. Supply and demand are two equal halves of this fight; if we don't recognize that fact we simply will not solve the climate conundrum. With his time in elective office winding down, Brown has the rare chance...

Susan Crockford is a polar bear expert with a message that climate alarmists don’t want to hear: polar bear populations are thriving and are certainly in no danger from thinning summer sea ice supposedly caused by ‘man-made global warming.’ That’s why the alarmist establishment is currently trying destroy her. First came a hatchet job in Bioscience, described by climate scientist Judith Curry as “absolutely the stupidest paper I have ever seen published.”

The recent commitments to make Boston carbon neutral by 2050 — by the city of Boston, Boston University, Harvard University and others — is an encouraging sign that local leaders understand the threat of climate change and the need for decisive action. Without strong action, it is likely that we will see continued increases in heat waves, rising seas, more intense storms and more destructive wildfires. On all of this the scientific consensus is strong. The public, alas, remains unmoved — either rejecting the science outright, resigned to the inevitability of forces that can’t be stopped, or hoping that the...

Mike Pompeo, as a Kansas congressman from 2011 to 2017, was one of the largest recipients of oil and gas money in the House of Representatives. He voted against amendments to bills that declared that climate change was real and caused by humans; railed against international climate treaties and greenhouse gas regulations; and in a 2014 speech to the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, called climate science “a religion out there that is advocating on behalf of making sure CO₂ doesn’t escape.” He is now Donald Trump’s pick to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, and if confirmed...

Snowfall across the great white continent of Antarctica is increasing, according to a study released this week by an international team led by the British Antarctic Survey. The team analyzed 79 ice cores from across Antarctica that provide detailed information on how much snow has fallen over hundreds of years, and it found a 10% increase in snowfall over the past two centuries. This contradicts studies that found that Antarctic snowfall has remained largely constant over the past several decades to centuries. But those studies analyzed only a few ice cores, whereas this comprehensive look at the continent gives a...

Furry, button-nosed and dependent on sea ice for their survival, polar bears have long been poster animals for climate change. But at a time when established climate science is being questioned at the highest levels of government, climate denialists are turning the charismatic bears to their own uses, capitalizing on their symbolic heft to spread doubts about the threat of global warming. The scientific evidence that the polar bear’s Arctic home is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet is overwhelming, supported by reports like the National Climate Assessment, which was compiled by 13 federal agencies. In...

In the race to combat climate change, the city of Los Angeles is employing a surprising new tactic — covering its streets in a grayish-white coating known as CoolSeal. It’s sprayed onto the roadway with trucks, then spread across the surface with squeegees. However, its impact extends far beyond the edge of the pavement. Los Angeles, like so many other modern cities, is encased in thousands of miles of asphalt. And dark-colored asphalt absorbs between 80 and 95 percent of the sun’s rays, heating up not just the streets themselves but the entire surrounding area. By cooling the ambient air,...

Longer droughts, resulting in damage to roads and other critical infrastructure. An average of 80 days per year with heat in the triple digits. Greater risk of wildfire. Those are among the weather effects possible in Central Texas by 2100 if global warming causes temperatures to rise, according to an April 6 report commissioned by the city of Austin. It should catch the attention of businesses preparing for the future as well as those focused on sustainability. The Climate Resilience Action Plan was prepared by Austin Chief Sustainability Officer Lucia Athens and Climate Program Manager Zach Baumer with help from...

No one wants to pay unfair prices for something, particularly when that something used to be free. While putting a price on carbon, in the form of a tax or fee, could offer environmental benefits, many question if some people would struggle to pay this tax, or if it’s “right” to charge people for the gas at all. However, a study conducted by 11 different research teams showed that carbon taxes can actually be both effective at curbing greenhouse gas emissions and fair to the tax payer. The researchers claim that depending on the exact mechanism chosen, it is possible...

Last week, Trump’s EPA announced that it will repeal the vehicle fuel efficiency standards set under the Obama administration and replace them with weaker requirements. EPA also threatened to revoke California’s ability under the Clean Air Act to impose its own greenhouse gas standards. If they do so, California’s attorney general will sue the EPA. Other than Russia, no developed country has gasoline prices nearly as cheap as America’s. Australia’s are closest at 35% more expensive than American gasoline. Canada’s are 46% more expensive, and European petrol is about twice the American price. The solution could not be clearer, but...

A decade ago, the environmental philosopher Timothy Morton invented a new word: hyperobject. It describes something so "massively distributed in time and space relative to humans" that it eludes our understanding. The best example of a hyperobject is climate change. Its scale confounds our perception. It is everywhere-"viscous," as Morton has it - and yet it is hard to see directly. Its implications are so great that they verge on unthinkable. William T. Vollmann's new book, "No Immediate Danger," tussles with the comprehension-defying nature of climate change. It is a 600-page amalgam of scientific history, cultural criticism, mathematical experiments, risk-benefit...

If only Michael Mann could “adjust” real temperatures the way he adjusted them on his infamous “hockey stick” graph that formed the key argument of Al Gore’s scaremongering hit movie, An Inconvenient Truth. But instead of “The end of snow” (New York Times, 2014), Britain has gotten hit with a long and very cold winter. The tabloid Daily Star sensationalizes the cold snap with “studies” that come up with the figure of 48,000 “excess” deaths blamed in the cold snap. Quite frankly, one can concoct all sorts of studies to “prove” or “demonstrate” all sorts of dubious propositions. So,...

Media watchdog Ofcom has rebuked the BBC over a radio interview with climate change sceptic Lord Lawson last August. It found that Radio 4's Today programme had breached broadcasting rules by "not sufficiently challenging" the former chancellor of the exchequer. In the interview aired on 10 August last year, the ex-chancellor claimed "official figures" showed average world temperatures had "slightly declined". He also claimed the UN's IPCC had confirmed there had not been an increase in extreme weather events for the last 10 years. This view, shown to be false by the Met Office, was not challenged on air by...

THE FIGHT against global warming is not hopeless. But the world must work harder. That is the upshot from a new report on the world’s energy use and emissions, which shows that modern economies can cut their addiction to carbon dioxide but that the pace must pick up. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported last month that global greenhouse emissions rose faster in 2017, after flattening out in the three previous years. Ramped-up economic growth in Asia is the main culprit. Every country in the world, the United States included, must put in more effort. Even if stringent global emissions...