Free Republic

To the casual observer, the American right can appear an undifferentiated wall of denial and obstructionism on climate change, but behind the scenes there are signs of movement. A growing number of conservative leaders and intellectuals have come to terms with climate science and begun casting about for solutions. Led mainly by libertarians and libertarian-leaning economists, they've begun to coalesce behind a carbon tax, which they consider the most market-friendly of the available alternatives. Jerry Taylor, a longtime veteran of the libertarian think tank Cato Institute who recently founded his own libertarian organization, the Niskanen Center, is a vocal proponent...

California Gov. Jerry Brown had some sharp words for environmentalist critics of his proposed Sacramento River water tunnels. On Wednesday, Brown told critics of his $15 billion plan to “shut up, because you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” according to the AP. Brown’s office told Sacramento Bee blog Capitol Alert that the governor’s remarks were made in “jest.” But the sharp rebuke highlights the tension surrounding the pricey project, which would send water from the northern part of the state south by using a pair of underground water tunnels to divert water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River...

“You know, I believe people knew this was likely in the 1970s, but enviros stopped the necessary water projects,” Glenn Reynolds wrote as an aside in September while linking to an article titled “American Southwest has 80% chance of decade-long drought this century.” Today at City Journal, Victor Davis Hanson flashes back to when California enviro-leftists began the countdown on the state’s existence: Brown and other Democratic leaders will never concede that their own opposition in the 1970s (when California had about half its present population) to the completion of state and federal water projects, along with their more recent...

To Alinsky, the world and its history were all about revolution. Saul Alinsky radicals who are all about revolutionary change ("we are the ones we've been waiting for" kind of change) have now seized control of an issue that can more quickly bring about that change – "climate disruption," as expressed in community-organizer lingo. If Alinsky were alive today, he would likely fit right in with the current activist climate scientists. Alinsky would probably see that the challenge is to convince enough of the "Have-Nots" that their privation stems not just from racism, sexism, classism, and all the other social...

The immediacy of social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, offers us a window into the prejudices of others that is unprecedented in the history of our society. Not a day passes in the United States when some person does not commit career suicide, achieve viral fame, or both by posting to Twitter or Facebook. A hundred and forty characters or less can make a hero or freshly mint a villain. All it takes is an ill-chosen word or, perhaps more accurately, a moment of honesty. We are all creatures of prejudice to one degree or another; we all harbor likes,...

Audi is making a new fuel for internal combustion engines that has the potential to make a big dent when it comes to climate change – that's because the synthetic diesel is made from just water and carbon dioxide. The company's pilot plant, which is operated by German startup Sunfire in Dresden, produced its first batches of the "e-diesel" this month. German Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna Wanka put a few liters of the fuel in her work car, an Audi A8, to commemorate the accomplishment. The base fuel is referred to as "blue crude," and begins by...

Just say no, Obama. Flaming water, poisoned air and destroyed lives — that’s what I found when I traveled to Dimock, Pa., in 2009 to see the impacts of fracking firsthand. Six years later, this tragic story is one shared by countless Americans, too many of them with no choice in the matter. Ten years after the Bush-Cheney administration exempted fracking from key parts of some of our nation’s most important environmental and public health laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, the science is finally catching up to the process — and...

The federal government and many states have offered car buyers incentives to venture into the electric car market. But now some states are going in a different direction -- they’re charging owners more. Idaho recently approved one of the country’s highest fees for electric cars. Here’s the problem: states traditionally fund highways with a gas tax. But you only pay that if you buy gas. Last week, Idaho lawmakers voted to charge electric vehicle owners an extra $140 annual registration fee. … which was news to Cleve Buttars. "Wow. Well, um ..." Buttars lives in Twin Falls and drives a...

Recently, Reason‘s Ronald Bailey asked what it would take to convince conservatives and libertarians that global warming is real. If generally rising temperatures, decreasing diurnal temperature differences, melting glacial and sea ice, smaller snow extent, stronger rainstorms, and warming oceans are not enough to persuade you that man-made climate [change] is occurring, what evidence would be? This has since been picked up by Jonathan Adler at the Washington Post‘s token right-leaning blog, the Volokh Conspiracy. There’s no pressure: Bailey and Adler merely insinuate that you are “obscurantist”—that is, you hate new knowledge—if you don’t agree. That, by the way—the...

arth Day was declared in 1970 and for the past 45 years we have all been living in the Environmental Insane Asylum, being told over and over again to believe things that are the equivalent of Green hallucinations. Now the entire month of April has been declared Earth Month, but in truth not a day goes by when we are not assailed with the bold-faced lies that comprise environmentalism. Around the globe, the worst part of this is that we are being victimized by people we are told to respect from the President of the United States to the Pope...

Apple has made it clear that it believes in global warming, and that it wants to fix what it regards as a problem. But should the company tone down its rhetoric on the issue? Under the leadership of Tim Cook, Apple has been a vocal advocate for certain policies, including what the company calls "climate change." While some have applauded Apple's commitment to battle global warming, I'm forced to wonder if the company's efforts aren't simply misguided. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Apple is paying attention to the environment and that it's aware of its own...

Some Democrats are privately worried that Hillary Clinton has too much baggage to make a successful presidential run in 2016. In casting about for a credible alternative candidate, some eyes are gazing, quite longingly, at...Al Gore. Not because he's baggage-free -- he did lose to George W. Bush in 2000 and then there's that whole Clinton thing again. No, some on the Left are urging Al to run in 2016 because he is so doggone worried about global warming: When it comes to climate change, there's no one in the Democratic Party — or any other political party — with...

Obama says climate change is personal to him because daughter Malia had an asthma attack as a toddler Said he can relate to 'fear a parent has when your four-year-old daughter comes up to you and says, "Daddy, I'm having trouble breathing" ' Health scare resulted in a single trip to the emergency room for Malia - who at the age of 16 now lives an active life, inhaler free But other children aren't so fortunate; they they find themselves in and out the emergency room several times a year, he said White House says higher temperatures lead to increases...

The attack ad against Senator Rand Paul will not be the only burr on the coattails of his Tuesday campaign announcement: The billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer will set up a lie-detector test at the event and demand he answer questions about climate change. Mr. Steyer’s environmental group, NextGen Climate, is kicking off a campaign of its own, hoping to bring climate change into the heart of the 2016 elections. The lie detectors will be the first in an escalating series of stunts, advertisements, billboards and rallies over the next year and a half aimed at highlighting Republican candidates’ denial, questioning...

FULL TITLE: Green Billionaire Activist Tom Steyer Escalates His War On Science, Truth And Western Industrial Civilisation Billionaire activist Tom Steyer, a household name here at Breitbart, has created a “war room” targeting Republican political candidates who are sceptical of climate change. Aiming to swing the results in 2016, Steyer’s campaign will ‘put candidates in the hot seat for their climate denial’ and attempt to link the GOP to “Big Oil” and the Koch brothers wherever possible. Steyer said he would spend “what it takes” for this campaign rather than committing to a specific figure beforehand.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is the only major Republican likely 2016 presidential candidate who hasn't weighed in on the controversy over Indiana's "religious freedom" law that erupted this week — and his explanation for avoiding the issue is questionable.

On Sunday, in anticipation of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) announcement that he intends to run for president, California governor Jerry Brown (D), declared to NBC’s Meet the Press Cruz was “absolutely unfit to be running for office.” Why? Because of Cruz’s stance on climate change—some of which Cruz laid out on late night TV last week. But comparing Cruz’s comments on Late Night with Seth Meyers and Brown’s remarks on Meet the Press, it is pretty clear that it is Gov. Brown who needs to spend more time familiarizing himself with the scientific literature on climate change and especially its...

Boy… is Al Gore gonna be mad now! The founder of Greenpeace just wrote the best argument against the false narrative of Man-Made Climate Change I have ever seen!

“Climate change” is a theory for which there is “no scientific proof at all” says the co-founder of Greenpeace. And the green movement has become a “combination of extreme political ideology and religious fundamentalism rolled into one.” Patrick Moore, a Canadian environmentalist who helped found Greenpeace in the Seventies but subsequently left in protest at its increasingly extreme, anti-scientific, anti-capitalist stance, argues that the green position on climate change fails the most basic principles of the scientific method. “The certainty among many scientists that humans are the main cause of climate change, including global warming, is not based on the...

Sierra Club Targets Republicans Tue Jun 25, 8:39 AM ETBy WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Sierra Club ( news - web sites) is targeting several Republicans in competitive Senate races for their votes on a series of environmental issues and supporting several Democrats for their environmental voting record. The Sierra Club outlined plans Monday to spend several million dollars — the amount was not disclosed — this year on political ads and voter education. The first phase of the environmental group's campaign will target television ads at Republican Senate challengers John Thune in South Dakota, Saxby...