Free Republic

Anyone who has suffered through rush hour traffic in Washington DC knows even the slightest traffic incident can cause hours of delay. This prevents emergency first responders from saving lives and keeps our dear leaders from getting to work. While some may see the latter as a positive, it’s still an act of insurrection against our government when purposeful actions are taken to halt their fulfillment of duties. Considering the hyperventilating congressional Democrats experience every time there’s a “right-wing” protest in DC, it’s conspicuous that they did not call in the National Guard when climate change “activists” decided to halt...

The scientists soon concluded their new calculations had been thrown off kilter by the physics of clouds in a warming world, which may amplify or damp climate change. “The old way is just wrong, we know that,” said Andrew Gettelman, a physicist at NCAR who specializes in clouds and helped develop the CESM2 model.

The world's biodiversity is constantly being threatened by warming temperatures and extreme changes in climate and weather patterns. And while that "doom and gloom" is the typical discourse surrounding how climate change is affecting biodiversity, another interesting aspect of the warming temperatures is how different species have been adapting over the decades, as the warming progresses, experts say. Here are some unusual ways climate change is affecting nature: Higher temperature extremes may increase the risk of outbreaks of tuberculosis in Kalahari meerkats by increasing physiological stress, as well as the movement of males between group, according to a study published...

Media leftists never waste an opportunity to spin one of their disgraced allies as some kind of hero. Even when there’s demonstrable proof they’ve done wrong. Anti-Chevron activist and disbarred eco-extremist lawyer Steve Donziger is no exception. Donziger was convicted of fabricating evidence and engaging in “corrupt” practices to win a legal case against a major oil company. Still, many in the media have gone to bat for him. Outlets like The Hill, Democracy Now!, Axios, Bloomberg News and The Nation painted him as an environmental hero victimized by Big Oil interests. Bloomberg, in particular, fawned how “videos tagged #freedonziger...

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s diplomatic priorities will tilt toward addressing the threat of climate change as one of the key global challenges of the 21st century, Germany’s foreign minister announced Wednesday. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a member of the environmentalist Green Party, said Germany’s 226 diplomatic missions worldwide will become “climate embassies.” This will require some “reorganization and reallocation of resources,” she said, including with the appointment of a new German climate envoy, the former Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan. The announcement Tuesday that Morgan would take on a senior government position prompted some grumbling in Berlin, including from opposition politicians...

It would hit Alina Black at Trader Joe’s, a wave of guilt and shame that made her skin crawl. Something as simple as nuts. They came wrapped in plastic, often in layers of it, that she imagined leaving her house and traveling to a landfill, where it would remain through her lifetime and the lifetime of her children. She longed, really longed, to make less of a mark on the earth. At the age of 37, these conflicting forces were slowly closing on her, like a set of jaws. In the early-morning hours, after nursing the baby, she would slip...

How would you feel about paying $5 each month for the ability to lock and unlock your car from a distance through an app? What about a $25-per-month charge for advanced cruise control or $10 to access heated seats? What if those charges continued long after your car was paid off? As vehicles become increasingly connected to the internet, car companies aim to rake in billions by having customers pay monthly or annual subscriptions to access certain features. Not content with the relatively low-margin business of building and selling cars, automakers are eager to pull down Silicon Valley-style profits. But...

Paris (AFP) – Climate change is on track to ramp up the annual cost of US flood damage more than 25 percent by 2050, according to new research Monday that warns disadvantaged communities will likely bear the brunt of the financial burden. The study published in the journal Nature Climate Change used new flood models to map out the present and future impact of sea level rise, tropical cyclones and changing weather patterns. Researchers used nationwide property asset data, information on communities and flood projections to estimate flood risk across the US. The study showed that poorer communities with a...

Climate change is threatening to destroy treasures buried in the UK as the soils that protect them dry out. A Roman toilet seat, the world's oldest boxing glove, and the oldest handwritten letter by a woman are some of the extraordinary objects discovered in at-risk British peatlands. It means climate change could undermine our understanding of our past, say archaeologists. About 22,500 archaeological sites in UK may be in danger. The problem is that changing weather patterns are drying out some peatlands - the waterlogged soils that cover about 10% of the UK. Dr Rosie Everett, of Northumbria University, is...

More than 3,500 people were rescued on Monday, but about 300 drivers remained on the Attiki Odos motorway overnight. Parts of Athens were also hit by heavy power cuts, with grid operators working to restore electricity. Authorities say the storm...will persist until Wednesday. Overnight temperatures plummeted to -14C. Government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou told reporters that the country remained "in a very difficult phase, as the forecasts indicate that we will face difficulties again in a while". Meanwhile, officials in Athens declared Tuesday a public holiday, with public offices closed and all private business in the city, except for supermarkets, pharmacies...

Actor and superyacht enthusiast Leonardo DiCaprio told Deadline planet Earth has “literally” nine years left on its “ticking clock,” and that “we should not have any elected leaders, on a state level, on a city level, or a national level that don’t listen to science.” In the Titanic star’s latest Netflix film Don’t Look Up, two astronomers (played by DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) go on a media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy Earth. But instead of taking the astronomers seriously, the comet becomes politicized. The film goes on to make several thinly veiled references...

Over the past three years, dozens of cities across the country have banned natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings as part of a growing campaign to reduce carbon emissions from homes. The movement scored a major victory last month, when New York City’s outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a ban on gas hookups in new buildings. Though new laws apply to the entire home, the policy debate often focuses on one room in particular: the kitchen. Gas stoves account for a relatively small share of the emissions released by a typical household, but they’ve become a...

FRANCE is reportedly facing blackouts as 10 of its nuclear reactors have shut down, spelling chaos for President Emmanuel Macron.The latest nuclear shutdown in France was announced by state energy giant EDF today. They said cracks were found near welds on a safety cooling system for two reactors at the Civaux plant in central France during routine safety checks. And EDF decided to shut down another two reactors at its Chooz plant in the eastern Ardennes region as a precaution because they are built to the same design. Karine Herviou, deputy chief executive of the French nuclear safety regulator IRSN,...

In order to power all of these EVs, we will need batteries — lots of them. This vital mineral in rechargeable batteries has earned the name “white gold” and the rush is on. But until the 1990s, the U.S. was the leader in lithium production. But there is only one operating lithium mine in the U.S., Albemarle’s Silver Peak in Nevada.

On episode XXIV of "In the Know," (January 7, 2022) ARK CEO/CIO, Cathie Wood, weighs in on the tech sell off, innovation stocks, autos, China, the tech & telecom bubble, and more. As always, she also discusses fiscal policy, monetary policy, the economy, market signals, economic indicators, and innovation. We hope you find this monthly series useful, especially during periods of heightened volatility. Stay Healthy. Stay Innovative.Tech Sell Off, Bubble Comparisons, China | ITK with Cathie Wood | January 7, 2022 | ARK Invest

Skyrocketing gas prices are sparking major concerns in the UK, with households bracing for higher bills and food prices. The energy crisis has already hit millions of Brits, but is set to hit more still. The UK is highly dependent on consumer spending to generate output, indicating the economy could still be in the mire heading into the spring. A wave of concern over the swelling cost of living is sweeping across Britain. While households are bracing for higher tax bills and are already being stung by food prices leaping, it is swelling energy costs that will hit hardest in...

A bizarre new video of the globalist World Economic Forum is ordering citizens of western countries to cease washing their clothes in order to fight climate change, following the WEF’s commands that the populace of developed nations eat bugs and renounce all possessions in order to lower carbon emissions. The strange missive appeared on the WEF’s Twitter feed on Sunday morning. The World Economic Forum, chaired by infamous “Great Reset” architect Klaus Schwab, routinely insists that decreasing the quality of life of average citizens is the way forward to deter climate change and supposed catastrophe. Twitter users chimed in to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major step to fight climate change, the Biden administration is raising vehicle mileage standards to significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, reversing a Trump-era rollback that loosened fuel efficiency standards. A final rule issued Monday would raise mileage standards starting in the 2023 model year, reaching a projected industry-wide target of 40 miles per gallon by 2026. The new standard is 25% higher than a rule finalized by the Trump administration last year and 5% higher than a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency in August. “We are setting robust and rigorous standards that...

When Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced on Fox News on Sunday that he won’t vote for the current version of Build Back Better, experts predicted he may have single-handedly killed the world’s best hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change.

Democratic pollster Doug Schoen is sounding the alarm for the Democratic Party’s 2022 midterm prospects. In fact, according to Schoen and fellow pollster Carley Cooperman, "Democrats’ political prospects are significantly deteriorating" — and they have the data to prove it. What do the data show? Recent data collected by Schoen Cooperman Research proves the Democratic Party is becoming increasing unfavorable and vulnerable to massive losses in 2022. The key findings include: 53% of likely voters believe President Joe Biden "hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems," compared to 38% who believe Biden's priorities are correct; 66% of...