Free Republic

Water, and its absence, has become Iran’s national obsession. In the mosques of northern Tehran the imams have been praying for rain, while the meteorologists count down the hours until the weather is forecast to break and rain is finally due to fall from the sky. Forecasts of “rain-producing clouds” are front-page news. More than 50 days have passed since the start of Iran’s rainy season and more than 20 provinces have not yet had a drop. The number of dams that have less than 5% of their reservoir capacity had increased from eight to 32, and the crisis has...

Amid a deepening ecological crisis and acute water shortage, Tehran can no longer remain the capital of Iran, the country’s president has said. The situation in Tehran is the result of “a perfect storm of climate change and corruption,” says Michael Rubin, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. “We no longer have a choice,” said Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian during a speech on Thursday. Instead Iranian officials are considering moving the capital to the country’s southern coast. But experts say the proposal does not change the reality for the nearly 10 million people who live in Tehran and...

The progressive and Islamist movements, both global in scope, have far more in common than meets the eye. As New York City celebrates a socialist-Islamist mayor and we approach the tenth anniversary of the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in San Bernardino, it is worth reflecting on the many commonalities that unite the Blue-Green (Democrat-Islamist) alliance. Many have remarked on the absurdities of these misfit ideologies as bedfellows. LGBTQ often professes love for Hamas irrespective of the latter’s nonnegotiable religious injunction to sentence gays to death. Feminists who rage against the so-called white western patriarchy offer unconditional support for an unyielding theocratic...

Today has been officially declared World Toilet Day by the United Nations (but you knew that already, didn’t you) with “climate change” blamed for making sanitation less available across the planet. The globalist organization has marked the scatological tribute event by throwing its full resources into an effort to promote toilets for all, “with the poorest, especially women and girls, worst affected.” It has also published a list of demands for the world to heed to make toilets more accessible while “climate change is reshaping our world – with glaciers melting, weather worsening, and sea levels rising.”

Lentil plant grown at Fuerteventura. Credit: Fayna Brenes =============================================================== Ancient lentils preserved in volcanic silos link modern Canarian crops to 2,000-year-old North African origins. Lentils cultivated in the Canary Islands today have roots that extend nearly 2,000 years into the past. This finding comes from the first-ever genetic study of archaeological lentils, conducted by researchers at Linköping University and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain. Because these lentils have been adapted for centuries to thrive in hot and arid environments, they may offer valuable genetic traits for future crop breeding in response to ongoing climate change....

No one uses “Malthusian” as a compliment. Since 1798, when the economist and cleric Thomas Malthus first published “An Essay on the Principles of Population,” the “Malthusian” position – the idea that humans are subject to natural limits – has been vilified and scorned. Today, the term is lobbed at anyone who dares question the optimism of infinite progress. Unfortunately, almost everything most people think they know about Malthus is wrong. The story goes like this: Once upon a time, an English country parson came up with the idea that population increases at a “geometrical” rate, while food production increases...

The president of the United States landed in Paris on Monday, his mouth full of grave and ominous reproaches for the heedless. Climate change, the central topic of the world summit he expects to lead, must be dealt with. Do we hear that? Must be dealt with! Or else. "I believe, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that there is such a thing as being too late," affirms the president. "And when it comes to climate change, that hour is almost upon us." But to be believed you have to be believable, a point that hardly ever...

COPENHAGEN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Iceland has designated the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system a national security concern and an existential threat, enabling its government to strategize for worst-case scenarios, the country's climate minister told Reuters. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, current brings warm water from the tropics northward toward the Arctic, and the flow of warm water helps keep Europe’s winters mild. But as warming temperatures speed the thaw of Arctic ice and cause meltwater from Greenland’s ice sheet to pour into the ocean, scientists warn the cold freshwater could disrupt the current’s...

Climate deniers use scientific aesthetics to reinforce and legitimize their message. At the same time, their main opponents, the climate activists, are portrayed as emotional and irrational. This has been demonstrated by researchers from the Universities of Gothenburg and Amsterdam, who have studied how climate deniers communicate online. "Disinformation is not just about incorrect facts, but about how these facts look and feel. In today's digital media landscape, messages are spread through images, memes and visual narratives that influence us in an instant, before we even have time to think. By understanding the aesthetic logic behind climate denial, we can...

Climate change is reducing the chances of runners breaking marathon records, new research claims. The study, external by US-based non-profit organisation Climate Central said rising temperatures "have made record-breaking runs in some races nearly impossible". It also predicted that optimal running conditions - which it defines as 4C for men and 10C for women - will be less likely in 86% of 221 global marathons by 2045. Former women's world record holder Catherine Ndereba said: "Climate change has altered the marathon. "Dehydration is a real risk, and simple miscalculations can end a race before it begins. Every step now carries...

Measurements were taken at 13 different locations in the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Lisa W. von Friesen ====================================================================== As Arctic sea ice melts, new life may emerge from the thaw. Researchers have discovered that bacteria beneath and along the melting ice are converting nitrogen gas into a form that fuels algae. The rapid loss of Arctic sea ice is widely seen as a catastrophe. Yet, in an unexpected twist, the melting ice may actually boost the foundation of Arctic marine ecosystems: algae. Algae serve as the essential food source for most ocean life, but their growth depends on nitrogen, a nutrient...

If only the peasants would just surrender! When I saw this headline in the opinion pages of the WSJ, I had high hopes that some scientist pointed out that politicians and bureaucrats can’t control the climate: We Can’t Stop Climate Change, So We Need to Prepare for ItSadly, I was wrong. The article was a pure piece of garbage, essentially claiming that despite the work of green pushers to scare everyone into capitulation to the radical green agenda, people just won’t cooperate. The writers complain that, “Around the world, people are giving priority to higher living standards, economics, and access...

Doctors have long known that heat puts a strain on the heart, kidneys and other organs. Those risks are exacerbated for pregnant people, as the body’s processes for staying cool are altered. It’s a problem that climate change, caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline and coal, is worsening. Intensifying extreme heat events, high temperatures well into the night and shattering weather records means more exposure for pregnant people, particularly in developing countries. Here’s what to know about the science of pregnancy and extreme heat: Pregnancy changes the body in myriad ways, which can make it more difficult and...

Put this in the ‘beyond ridiculous’ file that explains the current situation of a contracting European economy; specifically, in the auto sector.Europe has fines associated with the production of gasoline powered engines if the auto company doesn’t hit targets for sales of electric vehicles. The fines triggered this year. In order to avoid paying the European fines the auto makers are forming alliances with Chinese EV makers to purchase carbon credit offsets.In essence, EU car companies buy Chinese car company carbon credits, to avoid the EU fines. The Chinese car companies can then use the carbon credit revenue to subsidize...

Geneva (AFP) – UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for a fightback against climate disinformation ahead of next month's COP30 summit after US President Donald Trump branded climate change the "greatest con job ever". Guterres issued a robust defence of "clear-eyed" climate science and data, without which, he said, the world would never have understood the emergence of the "dangerous and existential threat of climate change". "We must fight mis- and disinformation, online harassment, and greenwashing," Guterres said at the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) weather and climate agency. "Scientists and researchers should never fear telling the truth." The...

Witnesses said a man, who was wearing a wig and dressed as a woman, was rolling past Leonardo da Vinci's famous masterpiece in a wheelchair before suddenly leaping to his feet and launching a pie at the canvas.

PARIS — Leonardo DaVinci's famous Mona Lisa has reportedly been retrofitted with laser eyes by security at the Louvre in response to attacks by activists attempting to vandalize the painting for attention. "Visitors have always remarked how Mona Lisa seems to be looking at them wherever they are standing," said Louvre head of security Dominique Javert while eating a baguette and smoking a cigarette in one of those long cigarette holder thingies. "Now, visitors should know that her piercing gaze comes equipped with a pair of 10-kilowatt laser blasters ready to vaporize anyone who would vandalize her." According to sources,...

This is one of those days when the Babylon Bee staff must shrug and wonder why they work so hard, when the real world of the left is working for you for free. A real story: The Mona Lisa was attacked by a cake-throwing eco-warrior in a bizarre stunt that thankfully failed to damage her famous smile. Videos posted on social media appear to show a young man in a wig and lipstick arriving at the Louvre in Paris in a wheelchair Sunday — then leaping up and attacking Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th-century masterpiece. The man, who was not immediately...

A new report by the Lancet published August 3 reiterates what media repeats daily: plastics are causing diseases, dementia and death. But the article makes it obvious that it is not the manufacturing or use of plastics; it is the recycling. Their solution is more Green spending, not less. No reversal. Burying plastics is safe and easy but never discussed because it would save money. Big Green interests have made trillions of dollars browning the earth and they refuse to stop. When did worldwide panic and spending dramatically accelerate? Buried within these top 100 facts about the green energy carnage...

Terradot, a carbon removal company, is using “enhanced rock weathering” to sequester carbon by spreading crushed volcanic rock over farmland.STATE OF SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Across vast stretches of farmland in southern Brazil, researchers at a carbon removal company are attempting to accelerate a natural process that normally unfolds over thousands or millions of years. The company, Terradot, is spreading tons of volcanic rock crushed into a fine dust over land where soybeans, sugar cane and other crops are grown. As rain percolates through the soil, chemical reactions pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that...