Free Republic

Tony Blair has accused Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting of putting Labour’s future at risk by abandoning the centre ground, warning that the party’s “almost infinite capacity for self-delusion” means it is likely to lose the next election. In a scathing 5,700-word attack on the prime minister and his would-be successors published on Tuesday night, Blair argued for the government to crack down on welfare spending, abandon restrictions on oil and gas and smooth relations with Donald Trump. His essay, a highly unusual intervention for a past Labour prime minister, is likely to draw a furious response from...

Findings by academic researchers suggest that hyperscalers' AI data centers contribute to local warming, but not everyone agrees. Findings of a new study conducted by a group of academics from around the globe have revealed that land surface temperature (LST) increases by 2°C (3.6°F) on average after the start of operations of an AI data center, an effect detectable up to an estimated 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away. The study, The data heat island effect: quantifying the impact of AI data centers in a warming world, was conducted by a dozen experts from leading universities in the UK, Singapore, France,...

In Norway’s highest mountains, experts are scouring perilous terrain for pieces of the past, long stored in mint condition in ice patches. As temperatures rise across the world, glacial archaeologists must find the emerging artifacts before they degrade forever This arrow with a pressure-flaked arrowhead made from gray quartzite dates to the Late Stone Age or Bronze Age and was found on Norway’s ice. The pitch and the animal sinew used to fasten the arrowhead are still preserved, which is exceptionally rare. Espen Finstad, Innlandet County Municipality ============================================================================================ A brown leather loafer came into view on a patch of ice...

The world loves coal. That is the simple message from results showing new coal-fired power plants hit a global 10-year high in 2025, defying climate doomers who decry its use and long for wind farms, solar panels and hydro power everywhere. Rising gas prices and supply disruptions linked to the Middle East crisis are just some of the factors pushing countries like China, Indonesia, India, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Italy to rely more heavily on dependable coal-fired energy security even as the global coal fleet generated less electricity – for now. Overall coal power capacity — plants that came...

A UN body of researchers that puts together possible climate scenarios announced last week that one extreme scenario it put forward back in 2011 is no longer plausible. As Roger Pielke Jr. from AEI puts it, the climate apocalypse is no longer around the corner.The climate apocalypse isn’t around the corner after all. That’s the upshot of a recent report from the international panel that supplies official “scenarios” to researchers, governments and banks. It turns out that the most extreme assumptions about the future — the doomsaying predictions embodied in the worst-case scenario known as RCP8.5 — are “implausible.”...The substance...

The climate crisis should be declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization, or millions more people will die unnecessarily, leading international experts have said. The independent pan-European commission on climate and health, which was convened by the WHO, concluded the climate crisis was such a worldwide threat to health that the WHO should declare it “a public health emergency of international concern” (Pheic). The international spread of vector-borne disease, such as dengue and chikungunya, as well as the health impacts of extreme weather events, global heating, food insecurity and air pollution make a Pheic necessary, said...

Mohammad Baghdadi Khan responded to criticism online by writing, "Who said councillors can’t drive cars like this?" A newly elected Green councillor in Bolton has posted video footage of himself driving a Lamborghini shortly after winning a seat in last week’s local elections. Mohammad Baghdadi Khan, also known as Baggy Khan, shared the video online following his victory in the Halliwell ward of Bolton, Greater Manchester, reports the Daily Mail. The footage shows Khan behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracan Spyder, a model that can cost up to £270,000. The clip also includes scenes from his election win. Reports...

The process of relocating people from New Orleans should start immediately, as the city has reached a “point of no return” that will see it surrounded by the ocean within decades due to the climate crisis, a stark new study has concluded. Ongoing sea-level rise and the erosion of wetlands in southern Louisiana will swallow up the New Orleans area within a few generations, with the new paper estimating the city “may well be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century”. Low-lying southern Louisiana faces multiple threats, with rising sea levels driven by global heating,...

I guess you could say she's sounding the alarm?... This took place this week in Venice at the city's 61st Art Biennale, one of the world's most "prestigious" modern art events. Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger created an exhibit at the Austrian Pavilion called "Seaworld Venice" to warn humanity that climate change is going to destroy us all... I suppose by comparison, hanging upside-down naked in a bell is pretty tame to her usual stuff?

The European Commission has drafted plans to give more free emissions permits to industries ​over the next few years, a move that ‌could save companies 4 billion euros ($4.68 billion) in CO2 costs, an internal EU document seen by Reuters showed on Monday. The EU's ​carbon market is the bloc's main tool for ​addressing CO2 emissions, which it does by forcing ⁠industries to buy CO2 emissions permits when they pollute. The ​scheme has come under growing political pressure from member states ​worried about Europe's faltering economic competitiveness, while some heavy industries have urged Brussels to give them more free CO2...

Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, the European State of the Climate Report for 2025 has found. From the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle, its climate is shifting in ways that are no longer subtle, no longer gradual, and no longer distant. The consequences are cascading across Europe’s environment, economy, and ecosystems. With hotter air, warmer seas, shrinking ice, drying soils, and stressed ecosystems, the warning signals are screaming from every part of the climate system. Europe has been warming at a rate of 0.56°C per decade throughout the past 30 years. This is more than twice as fast...

Deep-diving robots help crack the mystery of Antarctica’s vanishing sea ice Something strange has been swirling in the waters around Antarctica. From the 1970s until a decade ago, the floating sea ice that radiates from the continent had been expanding, even with climate change already in full swing. Then, in 2016, it suddenly and dramatically contracted — and has yet to recover — as rising global temperatures seemed to catch up with the Southern Ocean. Far from being just a local issue, the loss of sea ice has huge implications for Antarctica’s vast ice sheet, which would drive sea levels...

A new Minnesota bill could ban most weekday and nighttime driving for classic cars A Minnesota bill would sharply limit when classic cars can legally be driven. Collector vehicles may only be allowed on weekends or at organized events. Critics warn the proposal could hurt car culture and local businesses. Seeing a classic car on the road is one of those rare moments that still brings a smile to anyone who appreciates such machines. That experience might be about to become even rarer in Minnesota. A new law there would limit classic cars to driving only on weekends or at...

The Trump administration will celebrate the groundbreaking of a controversial new natural gas pipeline in New York City on Tuesday — with the project set to run off the coast of the city to boost the region’s energy supply. President Trump strongly backs the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline and used his influence to persuade Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to approve the permits allowing the project to proceed, despite fierce opposition from anti-fossil fuel environmentalists. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Environmental Protection Secretary Lee Zeldin will attend the event at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, hosted by Williams...

In an arid valley near the village of Kourtimale in southern Djibouti, a tattered chain link fence marks the boundaries of what was once Abdi Guelleh's farm. Within it, there's not a speck of greenery in sight. Broken lengths of irrigation piping lie scattered in the dust. A derelict weather station stands in a corner amid a tangle of cables. Here and there, taps that haven't seen water in years protrude from the earth. There's little to hint at the fact that this lifeless 2.5-acre plot was once meant to be one tiny brick in one of the world's most...

In an arid valley near the village of Kourtimale in southern Djibouti, a tattered chain link fence marks the boundaries of what was once Abdi Guelleh's farm. ...was once meant to be one tiny brick in one of the world's most ambitious environmental projects: Africa's Great Green Wall. ... This multi-billion dollar project was launched by the African Union in 2007. The plan: to plant a "wall" of trees spanning the entire width of Africa — 4,350 miles long and 10 miles wide — to fight desertification in the Sahel, the arid region to the south of the Sahara desert....

Europe bets on California’s Gavin Newsom as a strategic counterweight to the Trump agenda. Donald Trump’s opposition to climate policy and mass immigration is putting massive pressure on Europe. There, preparations are underway to support California governor Gavin Newsom. He is expected, as the 48th president, to prevent a continuation of Trump’s policies. America remains a country of high social mobility and upward opportunity -- something we no longer see on today’s European continent. It may sound kitschy to many Europeans, yet America's vibrant economic centers, high geographic mobility, and the flexibility of its people still create the conditions for...

It’s keeping scientists up at night. Scientists around the world are sounding the alarm over an ambitious plan to install thousands of mirrors and myriad satellites in space, claiming that it will impact sleep and various ecosystems on a global level. “The proposed scale of orbital deployment would represent a significant alteration of the natural night-time light environment at a planetary scale,” leaders of the European Biological Rhythms Society (EBRS), the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, the Japanese Society for Chronobiology and the Canadian Society for Chronobiology declared in letters to the US Federal Communications Commission The Guardian reported....

As Gov. Kathy Hochul looks to rework New York's climate goals, Mayor Zohran Mamdani's climate chief says the city's own environmental benchmarks are critical to improving affordability in the five boroughs. Hochul is asking lawmakers to push the timeline set forth in the state’s climate law, which called for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40%, from 2030 to 2040. The governor has said her actions are motivated by affordability, and that implementing the law under the existing terms would be onerously expensive for New Yorkers. In contrast, New York City is moving ahead without political delays. Chief Climate Officer Louise...

Kick up your recliner chairs because you’re not going to believe this one! TIME magazine is out with a new report prophesying that climate change threatens to make us all lazy slobs! “Scientists Warn of Health Risks As Climate Change Reduces Physical Activity,” read the knee-slapper headline from TIME reporter Simmone Shah. Shah waved around a new wacky study published in Lancet Global Health to foam at the mouth over how “rising global temperatures due to climate change could lead millions of people to be less physically active” and will supposedly lead to an increase of half a million deaths...