Free Republic

White House spokeswoman says ‘no change’ in U.S. position on deal In announcing the decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 195-nation agreement at the White House in June, Mr. Trump said he was ready to “begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or an—really entirely new transaction—on terms that are fair to the U.S., its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers.” “So we’re getting out, but we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair,” he added. “And if we can, that’s great. And if we can’t, that’s fine.”...

NEW YORK—Trump administration officials said Saturday the U.S. wouldn’t pull out of the Paris Agreement, offering to re-engage in the international deal to fight climate change, according to the European Union’s top energy official. The shift from President Donald Trump’s decision in June to renegotiate the landmark accord or craft a new deal came during a meeting of more than 30 ministers led by Canada, China and the European Union in Montreal. “The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this...

The White House denied multiple reports that the U.S. may stay in the Paris Climate Accord. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s administration signaled a shift to European officials from the decision in June to leave the agreement. “The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement,” European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete told The Wall Street Journal.

“When leaders in various fields ask me for advice, my response is always the same: dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. ~Pope Francis, in Brazil The Pope of Dialogue has thus far slammed the bronze doors of St. Peter’s on any dialogue on the issue of global warming. (Many Catholics argue that everything else is up for dialogue with this Pope, though). Despite his incessant rantings about the need to dialogue, climate change is off limits. In the words of his global warming maestro, Bishop Sanchez Sorondo, climate change is elevated to “magisterium,” deserving of an apostolic exhortation and papal endorsement of the...

Just over a year ago, Black Lives Matter UK successfully shut down London City airport. Our aims were to call attention to three things: Britain’s historical responsibility for global temperature changes, while the UK remains among the least vulnerable countries to the direct effects of climate change; second, that black people and poor people globally suffer the most from environmental impacts; and third, that safe freedom of movement is a reality only for the privileged, wealthy and mostly white. Black Lives Matter UK and the Black Lives Matter US network need to set the record straight: 1) Black Lives Matter...

RUSH: Chuck in Portland. It’s great to have you, sir. How are you doing? CALLER: Hey, Rush. Glad to be on your show this morning. RUSH: Great to have you here. I appreciate your call. These people in Hollywood are absolutely bonkers. They’re nuts. They don’t know what they’re talking about. Even the ones in academia are giving half-truths about how these hurricanes really behave and hyping climate change because that’s where the universities make their money off this. Michael Mann is one of them, the way he talked about Harvey. But think of a hurricane, Rush — and you’ve...

Mere seconds into the celebrity-filled benefit concert for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma did these stars turn the ostensible charitable event into a platform for left-wing sermonizing. Stevie Wonder, who kicked off the show, began with call for unity, but then turned to mock anyone who questioned the global warming theory. "When love goes into action, it preferences no color of skin, no ethnicity, no religious beliefs, no sexual preferences, and no political persuasions," Mr. Wonder began. "It just loves. As we should begin to love and value our planet." But after calling for love, he singled out skeptics...

The journalists on MSNBC and CNN on Tuesday continued to be annoyed that Donald Trump hasn’t connected Hurricanes Harvey and Irma to global warming. MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle offered a snide aside in a story on Pope Francis. She began,“ In the wake of Hurricane Irma, Pope Francis is criticizing climate change deniers.”  Going off script, Ruhle mocked the head of Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency: “You hear that, Scott Pruitt?” The co-anchor continued, “Speaking to reporters as he flew over devastated areas in the Caribbean, the Pope warned history will judge the world leaders who do not act.” Snide MSNBC Uses Pope...

Calls to punish global warming skepticism as a criminal offense have surged in the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but it hasn’t discouraged climate scientists like Judith Curry. A retired Georgia Tech professor, she argued on her Climate Etc. website that Irma, which hit Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Saturday, was fueled in large part by “very weak” wind shear and that the hurricane intensified despite Atlantic Ocean temperatures that weren’t unusually warm. That is the kind of talk that could get policymakers who heed her research hauled before the justice system, if some of those in the climate...

Pope Francis has warned history will judge world leaders who do not act as he blasted climate change sceptics in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. The pontiff said the recent storms meant the effects of climate change could be seen "with your own eyes". There have been four major Atlantic hurricanes in less than three weeks. But US Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt said it was an inappropriate time to discuss what role climate change may have played. Mr Pruitt - who has previously said he "would not agree" carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global...

When the intensifying effect of climate change was brought into the news coverage of Hurricane Harvey, some conservatives objected. They said it was horrid that the “liberal media” was politicizing a disaster that had upended so many people’s lives. Now, the same complaints will probably be raised in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Well, the climate change issue definitely has been politicized, but most of that exploitation for political purposes has been done by the fossil fuel industries, their mouthpieces in the right-wing media and their minions among Republican elected officials. Climate change deniers from President Trump to Rush Limbaugh...

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said the Republican party "acts as if climate change is not real" in an interview with Sen. John McCain on Sunday. "The Republican Party, as you know, generally speaking, acts as if climate change is not real," Tapper continued. "There are exceptions, you, your daughter, Meghan, the Republican mayor of Miami. But generally speaking, the president, the governor of Florida, et cetera, act as if it’s not real even though the overwhelming scientific consensus is that it’s real and it’s man made." "Back in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy hit, your daughter Meghan McCain tweeted, 'So are...

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Sunday said he can’t guess why some fellow Republicans deny the scientific consensus that climate change exists and is affected by human activity. “I don’t know because I can’t divine their motives,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There is things happening with the climate in the world that is unprecedented,” he added. “We have to understand that the climate may be changing and we can take commonsense measures which will not harm the American people.” McCain also said an agreement President Donald Trump came to with Democrats for a short-term increase in...

History can be a pesky thing, facts are stubborn things. There’s lot’s of caterwauling in the left about hurricane Irma on the heels of Harvey, being a sure sign of ‘climate change’ or global warming, or ‘climate disruption’ or something. A couple of days ago, king of the alarmists, Dr. Michael Mann, and his ex NCDC/NCEI toadie Dr. Thomas Peterson (architect of the Karlization of the global temperature record), penned a ridiculous op-ed in the Washinton Post.... ...Only in the mind of Mann can such drivel be produced. Mann is not a hurricane expert, he’s also apparently not a scholar...

In this brand-new slideshow (premiering on TED.com), Al Gore presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists recently predicted. He challenges us to act.

It’s a monster. As the eye of Hurricane Irma approached the tiny island of Barbuda this morning, wind speeds soared to 250 kph before the instrument broke. At the time of writing, all contact with the island had been lost and it is unclear how the 1600 inhabitants have fared. But already reports of severe destruction are coming in from other islands in Irma’s path. The destruction could be extreme. So why did Irma grow so strong? Most likely because climate change is making Atlantic waters ever warmer. Computer models suggest global warming is likely to increase wind shear over...

If climate change is a given, what’s the best place to live? Or, maybe, the least-worst? It’s not an easy question. Just asking it feels somehow simultaneously obvious and alarmist. There’s no place to hide from global warming, by definition. And until recently climate change wasn’t supposed to be a given. If you were on the right, it wasn’t supposed to exist. If you were on the left, it was supposed to be something humanity could put the brakes on. If you were in the middle, it was one of those things to worry about later, like your 401(k) or...

I want to begin by sending my condolences to anyone who has lost a loved in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, or Irma. I also offer my prayers for all who have been effected by Harvey's destruction in Texas and those who will be effected by Irma, where ever it may land. I do not mean to discount the suffering many are going through, nor do I want to insult anyone who cares so much for their loved ones that they are evacuating their home for safer ground. That being said. Why am I so not into how bad...

When Al Gore’s climate-change documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power opened to less than $1 million at the box office in early August—coming in 16th place in its first weekend of wide release—the right-leaning media was quick to dismiss it as a “bomb.” The sequel’s takings, the likes of Fox News noted, were far below its Academy Award–winning predecessor, An Inconvenient Truth, released in 2006.But to dwell on An Inconvenient Sequel ’s box office receipts is to the miss the point. The film’s message—a warning wrapped in the guise of a blockbuster movie experience—is no more critical than it is...

Hurricane season is upon us. Harvey last week and Irma this week. Both monster storms and long overdue if one looks at the pattern of hurricanes throughout history. After a hurricane drought, Harvey was the first major hurricane, meaning Category 3 or higher, to make U.S. landfall since 2005 when Hurricane Wilma hit Florida. Despite myriad predictions of monster storms after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, there were not a plethora of superstorms to follow. Why not? These megastorms were predicted based on the “settled science” of global warming, climate change, severe weather, and the like. Such predictions are based...