Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) — Leonardo DiCaprio is taking his environmental passion up a notch. The actor is joining with billionaire investors and philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs and Brian Sheth to create a new nonprofit environmental powerhouse charged with tackling climate change and the loss of biodiversity. It's called Earth Alliance and it hopes to protect ecosystems and wildlife, ensure climate justice, support renewable energy and secure indigenous rights.

For years, Tesla Inc. has hauled in revenue by selling credits to other carmakers that needed to offset sales of polluting vehicles to U.S. consumers. These sorts of transactions have largely been shrouded in secrecy—until now.

<p>It’s hard to follow a stunt like setting a globe aflame and proclaiming the world is “on fucking fire” because of global warming, but Bill Nye “The Science Guy” managed in it a CNN podcast interview.</p> <p>With less theater and showmanship than his “heartfelt,” expletive-laden performance on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, Nye still made outrageous claims about natural disasters and global warming on Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources podcast May 30.</p>

Orange County Commissioner Mark Marcoplos told the INDY Thursday that he’ll ask his colleagues to raises taxes to fund projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. The property tax hike he’s proposing for the county’s 2019–20 budget—which commissioners will vote on June 18—isn’t likely to cause sticker shock: It’s only a quarter-cent increase for every $100 in assessed value, or about $5 a year for a $200,000 property. (Orange County’s current millage rate, 85 cents per $100 of value, is higher than those of Durham and Wake Counties—78 cents and 65 cents, respectively—though that comparison does not include...

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ranks near bottom of the field of 2020 hopefuls on environmental issues, according to the left-leaning environmental group Greenpeace USA. In a newly released climate scorecard, Greenpeace USA gave Biden a "D-", the second-worst among Democrats. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee received the highest score, an "A-", followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who both were awarded "B+". "Even though Biden introduced the first-ever climate bill in Congress back in 1987, he has yet to release a plan that tackles the climate crisis if elected in 2020," Greenpeace said. "Biden...

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. climate chief says world leaders must recognize there is no option except to speed-up and scale-up action to tackle global warming, warning that continuing on the current path will lead to “a catastrophe.” Patricia Espinosa stressed in two recent interviews with the Associated Press that climate scientists are saying there’s still a chance to make things right “but the window of opportunity is closing very soon” and the world has 12 years until carbon emissions reach “a point of no return.” That means the world needs to accelerate all efforts to keep from reaching that...

Strasbourg (France) - Sweden's teenage activist Greta Thunberg choked backed tears on Tuesday as she warned of climate disaster and urged Europeans to vote in next month's elections to press for decisive action on cutting greenhouse gases. In a speech to a packed committee of the European Parliament, Thunberg, 16, warned time is running out to stop the ravages of global warming. "I want you to panic, I want you to act as if the house was on fire," Thunberg told the environment committee of the assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. Citing scientific reports endorsed by the United...

Former Secretary of State John Kerry defended freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday for offering "more leadership in one day or one week than President Trump has in his lifetime" on climate change. The House Oversight and Reform Committee meeting where Kerry testified was meant to address the intersection of climate change and national security, but several Republicans on the committee used their opening remarks to critique Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) Green New Deal plan to tackle climate change. Kerry also criticized Republicans for a failure to offer up a proposal of their own.

[Barf Alert] Listen to young climate strikers-Vatican (ANSA) - Vatican City, May 24 - The Vatican on Friday called on international leaders to listen to the young people in Italy and around the world who staged the latest in a a series of school strikes on Friday calling for action to address the climate crisis. "We need to appeal to political leaders to be far more courageous and to listen to the dramatic cry raised by the scientific community and the climate youth movement," said Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development....

Remember when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that if we don’t do something about climate change the world will end in 12 years, and then she faulted the GOP for taking her literally and not being able to take a joke? "You’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal," she tweeted earlier this month. Well, apparently Democrats can’t take a joke either because according to a Rasmussen poll released today, a staggering 67 percent of Democrats believe Ocasio-Cortez’s climate change warning to be completely legit. According to the poll, 48 percent of all likely voters...

Global sea levels could rise more than two meters (6.6 feet) by the end of this century if emissions continue unchecked, swamping major cities such as New York and Shanghai and displacing up to 187 million people, a new study warns. The study, which was released Monday, says sea levels may rise much faster than previously estimated due to the accelerating melting of ice sheets in both Greenland and Antarctica. The international researchers predict that in the worst case scenario under which global temperatures increase by 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, sea levels could rise by more...

Demands new powers be transferred to international authority that ‘manages’ interests of nations Pope Francis recently called for global governance to fight climate change, asserting, “The nation state cannot be considered as an absolute.” During an address to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Pope condemned “growing nationalism that neglects the common good” and called for more globalism. “The nation state cannot be considered as an absolute, as an island with respect to the surrounding context,” he said, adding, “The nation state is no longer able to procure the common good of its populations alone.” Pope Francis said that...

<p>DENVER (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bennet said Monday he wants to commit $1 trillion for underwriting research and projects to address climate change, set aside about one-third of U.S. lands and ocean territory for conservation and reach net-zero U.S. emissions by midcentury.</p>

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet upped the ante on how much cash he wants to fight climate change, according to a plan his presidential campaign released Monday. Bennet, one of 24 prominent Democrats running for president in 2020, unveiled a plan to create a Climate Bank to “catalyze $10 trillion in private sector investment in innovation and infrastructure” aimed at tackling global warming and creating millions of jobs, according to his website. “The Climate Bank will collaborate with states and the private sector, not Washington, to deploy U.S. capital to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decrease climate risks faster than current...

While all plant life captures CO2, Exxon Mobil wonders if industrial plants could do the same. While the oil company says it's constantly working on ways to capture CO2, it wants plants to be more like plants.

...The reasons why big cats turn on humans are complex and can be specific to individuals. But they can no longer be explained outside the context of climate change. Biodiversity depletion, habitat loss, extreme weather events, and a greater struggle over natural resources are affecting how animals live...

A local Seattle TV star returned to the small screen last night — though with a few more profanities than his schtick might be accustomed to. On Sunday, Bill Nye the Science Guy stepped in on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to help explain the thinking behind the Green New Deal and carbon pricing.

Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) called for “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” to avert full blown climate catastrophe. It’s not too late to stave off the worst impacts, they urged – indeed, it’s “possible within the laws of physics and chemistry”. But we need to act fast. Presidential candidate Joe Biden, 79, seems to have a very different understanding of the climate crisis than the world’s leading climate scientists. Several top advisers to the former vice-president previewed his “middle of the road” plan on the issue for Reuters on Friday. As...

"It is worse, much worse, than you think." That's how David Wallace-Wells' new book "The Uninhabitable Earth" opens. It's a painstakingly researched look at the catastrophic consequences global warming is already having on the planet - and the even worse ones that are coming unless drastic action is taken over the next three decades. "Projections estimate that if we don't change course on global warming, we could have a global GDP that's 30 percent smaller than it would be without climate change. That's an impact that's twice as big as the Great Depression, and it would be permanent." What can...

Pope Francis has told young economists and entrepreneurs that the world needs a different kind of economy, “one that cares for the environment and does not despoil it.” In a letter to young business people for an upcoming event titled “Economy of Francesco,” named for Saint Francis of Assisi, the pope declared that “the safeguarding of the environment cannot be divorced from ensuring justice for the poor and finding answers to the structural problems of the global economy. (emphasis mine)” “We need to correct models of growth incapable of guaranteeing respect for the environment,” he said.