Free Republic

Armed with surgical masks and hand-made placards drawing attention to clean air, Westfield Concerned Citizens continued their opposition to a proposed 431 megawatt natural gas fired electrical generating plant here Thursday. The group, which formed shortly after the $400 million plant was proposed in 2008 by Pioneer Valley Energy Center, was among more than 150 people at North Middle School attending a public hearing on a federal Environment Protection Agency pending air quality permit for the plant. “The mask makes a statement,” said registered nurse Gail S. Bean of Westfield. “The mask prevents toxins from entering the lungs,” she explained...

SEATTLE – As part of Seattle's campaign to combat global warming, Mayor Greg Nickels plans car-free days throughout the city. He has enlisted the help of a group of eco-friendly moms to make his latest environmental push forward. Exact details about car-free days and locations will be revealed at the mayor's press conference Wednesday morning, but one of Seattle's favorite beach communities is expected to top the list. On some days you can't find a parking space at Alki Beach, but on one upcoming day people may have Alki all to themselves. "On Sunday, September 7, from 12 to 6...

From No smoking hot spot in the Australian.The evidence is not there:1. The greenhouse signature is missing. We have been looking and measuring for years, and cannot find it. Each possible cause of global warming has a different pattern of where in the planet the warming occurs first and the most. The signature of an increased greenhouse effect is a hot spot about 10km up in the atmosphere over the tropics. We have been measuring the atmosphere for decades using radiosondes: weather balloons with thermometers that radio back the temperature as the balloon ascends through the atmosphere. They show no...

Archaeologists Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear began writing their fictional “North America’s Forgotten Past” 17 years ago. The series is set in prehistoric North America and the authors use their archaeological background to recreate a plausible ancient world. Now their 12th book in the series People of the Nightland they tackle global warming. What, some political fiction book? No, not quite: …the newest novel in their acclaimed “North America’s Forgotten Past” series—the Gears remind us that global warming is not a recent phenomenon. Less than 13,000 years ago, our forebears saw their climate turned upside-down. In a single...

BELIZE CITY (Reuters) - Collapsing bridges, bursting sewer pipes and crumbling roads caused by global warming could cost Alaska up to $10 billion over the next few decades, researchers said. Atmospheric temperatures in the northernmost U.S. state have risen by more than 3 degrees Fahrenheit (around 2 degrees Celsius) over the past five decades, Peter Larsen, a resource economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage, told a climate change conference in the Central American country of Belize. Larsen led a study with a team of engineers to calculate how Alaska will cope with the highest temperatures it has experienced in...

Climate scientists issue dire warning David Adam, environment correspondent Tuesday February 28, 2006 The Guardian (UK) The Earth's temperature could rise under the impact of global warming to levels far higher than previously predicted, according to the United Nations' team of climate experts. A draft of the next influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report will tell politicians that scientists are now unable to place a reliable upper limit on how quickly the atmosphere will warm as carbon dioxide levels increase. The report draws together research over the past five years and will be presented to national governments in...

SEATTLE — With a record number of dead seabirds washing up on West Coast beaches from Central California to British Columbia, marine biologists are raising the alarm about rising ocean temperatures and dwindling plankton populations. "Something big is going on out there," said Julia Parrish, an associate professor in the School of Aquatic Fisheries and Sciences at the University of Washington. "I'm left with no obvious smoking gun, but birds are a good signal because they feed high up on the food chain." Coastal ocean temperatures are 2 to 5 degrees above normal, which may be related to a lack...

The world's chattering classes are beside themselves over President Bush's decision to stay in Texas rather than travel to Johannesburg, South Africa, over the Labor Day weekend to attend the U.N.'s "World Conference on Sustainable Development." American environmentalists wail that the president is thoughtlessly dismissing the most important issue of our time. The Europeans cry that the president is ducking his responsibilities as leader of the most powerful nation on earth. This is akin, however, to the lions that cry that the lamb has refused their invitation to dinner. The real reason the Euros are upset is that they had...