Free Republic

Former Secretary of State, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that the Senate needs to work faster in the confirmation process to combat the “brain drain” brought on by former President Donald Trump. Mitchell asked, “I want to also ask you about undoing some of the Trump changes, I don’t mean the Paris Climate Accord, but there has been such a brain drain from the scientists who have quit or been fired all through the federal government, not just the EPA and other related agencies. How do you undo that? Doesn’t...

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm responded to concerns on whether China will meet its climate goals by stating that the U.S. and its allies need to ensure there is pressure on China and that China doesn’t “want to be shamed.” Granholm said, [relevant remarks begin around 3:50] “[T]he whole world is surrounding this. I mean, every country that has signed onto the agreement to get to net-zero carbon pollution by 2050, we’re all surrounding, and China, they want to be seen as a leader. They don’t want to be shamed. But...

Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory... say researchers examining signs of past sea levels along various coasts may have failed to accurately correct for long-term ups and downs of the land itself. Based on newly sophisticated measurements made across the Bahamas along with new methods of analyzing data, the researchers produced lower—though still daunting—estimates for the last interglacial. They say seas peaked at least 1.2 meters (4 feet) higher than today—roughly in line with most current models for the next 100 years of so. However, they say, levels could have been higher. An unlikely upper limit, they say, is 5.3 meters...

Earth is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations called a “code red for humanity.” “It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse,” said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” But scientists also eased back a bit on the likelihood of the absolute worst climate catastrophes. The authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which...

Scientists are worried the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a "critical aquatic conveyer belt" that drives currents in the Atlantic Ocean, is at risk of near-complete collapse due to climate change, The Washington Post reports.A shutdown of the crucial circulation system could "bring extreme cold to Europe and parts of North America, raise sea levels along the U.S. East Coast, and disrupt seasonal monsoons that provide water to much of the world," the Post reports. The effects, in short, would be devastating."The mere possibility that the AMOC tipping point is close should be enough for us to take countermeasures," warns...

...The pandemic, these professionals say, is entering a dark new phase. Nearly half the nation rejects vaccines, goes maskless and sees virus restrictions as an assault on liberty. As cases rise again, scientists and doctors are grappling with the exasperating realization that the country has the means to tame this virus, but large parts of the population reject them."How much more energy and effort can the nation exert to save even more lives when Americans, given the options and tools to save themselves, aren’t doing it?” said James Hodge, director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at...

Sure enough, the United States is again awash in virus, with the incidence of new COVID-19 cases having soared 131 percent in the third week of July. To be clear, the vaccines available work well—especially the Pfizer and Moderna products based on mRNA technology. But it is likely that waning vaccine efficacy, coupled with a stubborn one-fifth of the adult population refusing any immunization, has opened the door for the dangerous mutant delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 to wreak havoc among the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike. That’s why the United States is going to need a third dose of mRNA vaccines;...

They keep asking that dumb question… Why are you “vaccine-hesitant?”First, let’s be crystal clear … I’m not “hesitant.” That’s like saying I’m hesitant to jump off a cliff.It’s a full-stop, 100%, no-chance-in-Hell, stop-pushing-your-BS-on-me NO!“But WHHHHYYYYYYYY?” the entire Left and the vaccinated zombies on the Right all whine in cult-like unison.HERE’S WHY:1. I don’t take injections for anything that my own immune system is beating at a 99.9294% rate. Why in the world would I take something that is reportedly 95% effective at maybe only lessening symptoms? It doesn’t even stop the virus, which is why you are seeing all these...

“Trust but verify,” others will say. Unfortunately, that’s not an option in the case of Covid-19 in general and their so-called “vaccines” in particular because trusting would mean getting the injections. There’s no going back if it’s verified to be dangerous later. Besides, one can easily make the case that they’re already verified as dangerous, though their efficacy against Covid-19 itself is questionable.It has been over a year and a half since scientists started researching Covid-19. Technically, the coronavirus has been researched for years by scientists in Wuhan and other laboratories, but that’s another issue. In the early days they...

To prevent further spread of the Delta variant, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on Tuesday to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors when in areas with "substantial" and "high" transmission of Covid-19, which includes nearly two-thirds of all US counties. "In recent days I have seen new scientific data from recent outbreak investigations showing that the Delta variant behaves uniquely differently from past strains of the virus that cause Covid-19," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told a media briefing on Tuesday.

A study published in the Nature science journal found that heavy wildfire smoke could be linked to an increase in COVID-19 cases. Researchers looked at Washoe County in northern Nevada, which saw a simultaneous increase in COVID-19 cases while also being exposed to wildfire smoke last year. “We had a unique situation here in Reno last year where we were exposed to wildfire smoke more often than many other areas, including the Bay Area,” Gai Elhanan, co-lead author of the study, told the Reno Gazette Journal.

Trusting Science Is Not the Same as Critical Thinking Experiments with participants given fake science Shows that those who “trust science” can be gullible July 27, 2021 | David F. Coppedge Like most psychologists in academia, those at the University of Pennsylvania tend to promote the consensus on matters like vaccination and mask-wearing. But they also realize that trusting science is not enough. Without critical thinking, people who claim to “trust science” can be gullible. And if they repeat stories that are false, their too-trusting nature can spread pseudoscience. Three psychologists at UPenn decided to test this by feeding fake...

Sitting on the sidelines of the G20 climate summit in Naples this week, it was hard not to feel a sense of existential dread. Last year, I wrote on the cover of TIME that a series of developments - beginning with the trillions spent to help the world recover from COVID-19 and ending with the UN climate conference in Glasgow this fall - had made 2020 and this year our “last, best chance” to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Going into this week’s talks, just over 100 days before the Glasgow summit, the world seemed to be on...

Scientists observed chimpanzees attacking and killing gorillas in the wild Two deadly incidents happened in 2019 that left two infant gorillas dead The first incident lasted for 52 minutes and the second lasted for 72 minutes The second incident also ended with a female chimp eating the dead gorilla Experts say the behavior may be due to a competition of food ================================================================== Chimpanzees living at Africa's Loango National Park in Gabon are attacking and killing gorillas that also call the region home in what researchers are saying is a first in the scientific community. A team of scientists from Osnabrück...

LONDON (AP) — U.S. climate envoy John Kerry called on China to join America in urgently cutting greenhouse gas emissions and described the international alliances that rebuilt Europe after World War II as a model for fighting against climate change. Kerry challenged global leaders to accelerate the actions needed to curb rising temperatures and pull the world back from the edge of the abyss. “Allies, partners, competitors and even adversaries” must work together, he said during a speech at London’s Kew Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage site where scientists are working to protect plants from global warming. “The climate crisis...

On Monday, Governor Tom Wolf posted on his Facebook page the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The RGGI is a cooperative effort to cap and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector. Other states include Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

(CNN) Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrats' most pivotal swing vote, expressed his most serious concerns yet about a key element in their party's $3.5 trillion sweeping economic plan: Provisions dealing with climate change that have been sought by progressives. Manchin, who hails from coal-producing West Virginia, told CNN that he's "very, very disturbed" by provisions he believes would eliminate fossil fuels -- a warning sign for Democrats who need all 50 members of their caucus to sign off on the plan in order to get it through the Senate. But the climate provisions are key to getting support from liberals,...

She said that because developing countries are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the U.S. has increased its efforts around the goal of mobilizing $100 billion per year from both public and private sources to help developing countries with climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Yellen pointed out that, earlier this year, the U.S. released an International Climate Finance Plan. She said that the U.S. intends to double its annual public climate finance for developing countries by 2024 and triple public finance for climate adaptation. She said that doing so would result in some $5.7 billion each year...

Shanghai, China New research published by the open access publisher Frontiers inventories greenhouse gas emissions of 167 globally distributed cities. The study shows that just 25 mega-cities produce 52% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the studied cities. In 2015, 170 countries worldwide adopted the Paris Agreement, with the goal limiting the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C. Following the agreement, many countries and cities proposed targets for greenhouse gas mitigation. However, the UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2020 shows that, without drastic and strict actions to mitigate the climate crisis, we are still heading for a temperature increase of more...

The federal health agency released updated guidance Friday, recognizing in-person learning for children as extremely beneficial and listing their return to the classrooms as a “priority.” This is “regardless of whether all of the prevention strategies can be implemented at the school.” Nonetheless, it is still advancing the notion that unvaccinated children should continue to wear masks in school. Currently, children under the age of 12 are not cleared to receive a vaccine. As such, the CDC recommends “layered prevention strategies” to “protect” the unvaccinated. “COVID-19 prevention strategies remain critical to protect people, including students, teachers, and staff, who are...