Free Republic

Former Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton wants supporters to tell their senators to vote against Judge Brett Kavanaugh becoming the newest justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Clinton’s main reason for opposing President Donald Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee? Man-made global warming. “Replacing Kennedy with Kavanaugh would swing the Court to a new, hard-right majority that would rule against curbing greenhouse gases for years—maybe decades—that we can’t afford to waste on inaction,” Clinton wrote in a series of tweets published Friday....

Roger Federer, one of the world’s greatest tennis players, may have become an unwitting spokesman for the effects of climate change on Monday at the U.S. Open.

A warmer world likely means more and hungrier insects chomping on crops and less food on dinner plates, a new study suggests. Insects now consume about 10 percent of the globe’s food, but that will increase to 15 to 20 percent by the end of the century if climate change isn’t stopped, said study lead author Curtis Deutsch, a University of Washington climate scientist. The study looked at the damage bugs like the European corn borer and the Asiatic rice borer could do as temperatures rise. It found that many of them will increase in number at key times for...

After a long, hot summer beset by record temperatures, drought and deadly fires, imagine my shock, on returning to the European parliament, to be confronted with a report that denies the reality of climate change. Some of the claims made by the report’s author, the Ukip MEP Stuart Agnew, are pretty hair-raising. For instance, he claims that the effect of CO2 levels on our climate is “negligible”, and that it is “one of agriculture’s greatest friends”. Agnew claims there is a lack of concentration of CO2 and as a result there is no problem for the EU to solve. So...

The evidence is there that Europe experienced stark cold and dry spells, putting a strain on Neanderthals' food supply and ability to survive. Thanks to a group of researchers looking at stalagmites in Romania, we may have proof this was indeed the case. Dr. Ersek and his team looked at the stalagmites—rocks that gather in caves for long stretches of time —to look at the climate. Stalagmites contain rings, similar to trees, which can give an indication of how extreme weather patterns, occurring over thousands of years, impacted Neanderthals. The study was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the...

Neanderthals were skilled hunters and had learned how to control fire, but they had a less diverse diet than modern humans, living largely on meat from the animals they had successfully pursued. These food sources would naturally become scarce during colder periods, making Neanderthals more vulnerable to rapid environmental change. In comparison, modern humans had incorporated fish and plants into their diet alongside meat, which supplemented their food intake and potentially enabled their survival. ..." Dr. Ersek and colleagues examined stalagmites in two caves in the Carpathian Mountains, which revealed more detailed records of climate change in continental Europe than...

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) internal watchdog is auditing how the agency deals with issues of scientific integrity. In a notice released Friday, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said it would launch research into how the EPA implements and adheres to its scientific integrity policy. The audit was launched voluntarily by the office, so it is not connected to a specific request from a lawmaker or complaint. But critics of the Trump administration have nonetheless criticized the agency for what they see as attempts to undermine science at the EPA, including downplaying the harms from climate change and...

A shock 2016 study argued that the U.S. accounted for nearly one-third of all mass shootings, sparking global headlines about the dangers of an American gun culture. Now another researcher says the original study “botched” the data. John R. Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, crunched the numbers and said his count shows that the U.S. had less than 3 percent of the world’s mass public shootings over a 15-year period. That is smaller than the 4.6 percent of the world’s population that the U.S. accounts for — and way less than the 31 percent of global...

There's nothing mysterious about what it will take to limit climate change: The world needs to transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy. But the timing of that transition is extremely important. According to a new study published in the journal Earth System Dynamics, we could soon cross a point of no return. The new study calculates that if the world's governments don't initiate a transition to clean energy sources by 2035 we'll almost certainly pass that point of no return. The exact year could change, according to the researchers' model. But no matter what, the deadline is coming...

A fleet of jets takes off from airports around the world. They ascend beyond the cruising altitude of commercial airlines until they reach the stratosphere. Then, they spray. A thick stream of sulfuric acid pours forth from the aircraft, bathing the skies in toxic aerosols. Winds spread the noxious cloud around the world, where it lingers for months, even years. The effects down on Earth are unmistakable. On every continent, blue skies are replaced with a pallid veil of white. The Milky Way disappears. There is less sunlight for solar power, more damage to the ozone, and a surge of...

OTTAWA - Provinces that don't get on board with the federal Liberals' plan to deal with climate change, including putting a price on pollution, will forfeit their share of a $2-billion federal fund, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says. The Liberals find themselves with multiple provinces opposing aspects of the plan, from new clean fuel standards to carbon pricing through a tax or cap and trade. McKenna said no one should question the government's commitment to combating climate change and the pan-Canadian plan it unveiled shortly after taking office in late 2015. "There's no backing away from climate change," McKenna said...

VANCOUVER - Claire Dooley was 13 when climate change first hit home. It was 2015, and the first year she saw the wildfire smoke blanketing her Vancouver neighbourhood. “It was scary to look outside and see the smoke invading my childhood memories,” she said. “It’s everywhere in my hometown and the place I grew up, where all my childhood memories are - it’s almost claustrophobic.” Now 16, Dooley has been increasingly worried about the changing climate, fearing the world may be completely different only a few years from now when she embarks upon adulthood. “I think in today’s world of...

Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has downplayed bombshell allegations that Pope Francis knowingly rehabilitated an abusive American cardinal, saying the pope has a “bigger agenda” to worry about, such as protecting the environment and migrants. In a television interview with NBC News, Cardinal Cupich commented on a recent 11-page statement by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, that alleges a series of misdeeds by high-ranking Catholic prelates, including Pope Francis himself. “The pope has a bigger agenda. He’s gotta get on with other things, of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and...

The Evil Lavender Mafia: Pope Francis must resign. He was all too aware of the molestation of young boys and young men by predatory, pedophile and homosexual priests, bishops and cardinals, yet continued to protect and even promote them Is the Rot Unraveling in the Catholic Church? It appears this may be the case. But Pope Francis refuses to address this rot signifying that he is no leader. Evil thrives in an environment of permissiveness and appeasement, as we have witnessed in Catholic parishes and dioceses throughout America. However, good priests and bishops who tried to expose the rot were...

Here's the list. Click on the link if you want the details: Arctic’s thickest ice layer breaks for first time on record Longer fire seasons contribute to historic forest fires Hurricanes hit with more frequency and intensity Heat waves paralyze cities worldwide with record-setting temps Toxic algae blooms close down beaches

The Paris climate agreement’s momentum has taken another big hit with a new challenge. Brazil’s presidential forerunner has indicated that the country will quit the Paris agreement if he gets elected.Will the outdated climate agreement survive the departure of developing countries?BRIC is an acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China—countries that are at a similar stage of economic development and considered to be the big developing countries.All these four countries signed the Paris climate agreement (2015), which required the 195 Signatory countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions to limit the increase of global average...

A particular challenge of the fight over climate change, if not a unique one, is that the shifts accrue subtly. The climate has changed stunningly quickly in global terms but slowly in human terms, allowing us to rationalize, wave away and downplay. The issue of climate change rose to the national consciousness as polarization in U.S. politics spiked. Gallup polling shows that there’s a nearly 50-point gap between the parties in belief in the effects of a warming planet having already begun. More than 8 in 10 Democrats think global warming has been demonstrated; only a third of Republicans agree....

QUINCY, Mass. - Gov. Charlie Baker says a new environmental infrastructure law will help make Massachusetts more resilient to climate change. The bill ceremonially signed by the governor in Quincy on Tuesday authorizes the state to borrow up to $2.4 billion for environmental projects in the coming years. About $500 million is earmarked specifically for helping communities prepare for extreme weather events that many scientists believe will become more frequent with global warming. Baker, a Republican seeking a second term in November, says Massachusetts is a "national leader" in addressing the challenges posed by climate changes.

"These beaches are doomed." Those are the sobering words from Duke University geology professor emeritus Orrin Pilkey, who told our media partners at the News & Observer that the days are numbered for North Carolina's beaches. "The buildings are doomed, too," he said. Pilkey, who is also the founder and director emeritus of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, has been sounding the alarm about rising sea levels for decades. Pilkey said rising sea levels are an imminent threat to North Carolina's 18 barrier islands and to the Inner Banks, the areas just behind...

Scientists in the US have presented one of the most dramatic forecasts yet for the disappearance of Arctic sea ice. Their latest modelling studies indicate northern polar waters could be ice-free in summers within just 5-6 years. Professor Wieslaw Maslowski told an American Geophysical Union meeting that previous projections had underestimated the processes now driving ice loss. Summer melting this year reduced the ice cover to 4.13 million sq km, the smallest ever extent in modern times. Remarkably, this stunning low point was not even incorporated into the model runs of Professor Maslowski and his team, which used data sets...