Free Republic

Republicans’ contrived outrage over the Biden administration’s promotion of climate-friendly stoves has me thinking about how unprepared they are for the realities of our high-tech future. Because climate-conscious appliances and devices aren’t going anywhere. Humans’ continued obsession with technology - whether that’s stoves or blockchain platforms to trade goods or high-powered game consoles - is terrible for the environment. Merely producing these things often requires mining for resources, as well as an assembly process that leaves a major carbon footprint. But the energy to run these things, multiplied across the millions of people who use them, really adds up. That’s...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage to homes along Alaska’s western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents — largely Alaska Natives — repair property damage. Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency paperwork expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup’ik or Inupiaq instead were reading bizarre phrases. “Tomorrow he will go hunting very early, and will (bring) nothing,” read one passage. The translator randomly added the word “Alaska” in the middle of...

Police in riot gear began evicting climate activists Wednesday from a condemned village in western Germany that is due to be demolished for the expansion of a coal mine. Some stones and fireworks were thrown as officers entered the tiny hamlet of Luetzerath, which has become a flashpoint of debate over the country’s climate efforts, on Wednesday morning. Police spokesman Andreas Mueller said the attacks on officers were “not nice” but noted that most of the protest so far had been peaceful. He said police would stick to their tactic of trying to avoid any escalation by offering to let...

Twitter users mocked Ellen DeGeneres after she blamed climate change for severe storms and flooding in California over the past few weeks.

Earth’s protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says. A once-every-four-years scientific assessment found recovery in progress, more than 35 years after every nation in the world agreed to stop producing chemicals that chomp on the layer of ozone in Earth’s atmosphere that shields the planet from harmful radiation linked to skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage. […] The progress is slow, according to the report presented Monday at the American Meteorological Society convention in Denver. The global average...

The following excerpt was sent out from The Washington Post’s climate and environment editor Zachary Goldfarb; climate and environment deputy editor Juliet Eilperin; and climate/environmental policy, politics and power editor Stuart Leavenworth: We are so pleased to announce that Chico Harlan, one of our distinguished foreign correspondents, is joining the Climate team as our first global climate correspondent. In this new role, Chico will traverse Europe, Africa and the Middle East to uncover the most important stories about how global warming and environmental change are affecting people and societies. Chico has had a highly varied career at The Post, having...

As of Monday, California’s snow water equivalent is 199% of normal for this date (January 9), according to the California Department of Water Resources. The Southern Sierra is 222% of normal. The Central Sierra is 201% while the Northern Sierra/Trinity is 173%. The snowpack outlook is also promising along the crucial Colorado River basins which feed Lake Powell and Lake Mead and is Southern California’s primary source of drinking water. Snow water equivalent in the Rockies generally range from 117% to 176% of normal.

A “relentless parade of cyclones” from the Pacific Ocean is expected to bring additional flooding and heavy snow to parts of the West Coast this weekend after the region was pummeled by heavy precipitation and hurricane-force winds amid intense storms over the past week. The National Weather Service (NWS) said the main focus of the storms will be on Northern California, where tens of thousands of people already lost power and at least two people were killed on Thursday as a result of a storm. The NWS said the heavy precipitation hitting Northern California on Saturday morning will strengthen at...

Heavy rain, powerful winds and over 30-foot waves battered Capitola overnight and into Thursday afternoon, wreaking havoc to coastal businesses. "We have sustained some significant damage on the Capitola Wharf, so we're declaring a state of emergency," Mayor Margaux Keiser said Wednesday afternoon. About 350 people were given evacuation orders in Capitola Village—the city's main tourist destination filled with shops and restaurants—and a neighborhood along the Soquel Creek, where the water level shot up above ten feet, beyond what city officials predicted. "Where we would have expected it with this high tide is probably around six feet, yet we were...

A large window completely destroyed, a patio wiped out, a home off Yankee Point Drive was left with ‘extensive damages’ Thursday. With waves reaching up to 50 feet from the Carmel Highlands to Pebble Beach, Monterey County officials say they are keeping a close eye on the swells. A home in the Carmel Highlands was slammed by a 50-foot wave according to CAL Fire, KSBW was able to get an exclusive inside look at the damages. Advertisement CAL Fire crews were left to pick up the pieces of the home. The majority of the back portion of the home was...

A powerful midweek storm caused "significant damage" across Santa Cruz County, including the coastline where multiple piers took a beating, county officials said Thursday. In the popular coastal town of Capitola, a section of the wharf collapsed into the ocean as destructive waves pounded the coastline. Nearby Seacliff Pier also suffered "heavy damage," the county said.... ...Rain runoff and a surging swell converged in Capitola's village, prompting officials to evacuate the area. Businesses in the village sustained "significant damage,",,,

A large section of the pier to the famous "cement ship" docked in Santa Cruz County at Seacliff State Beach was destroyed amid massive storm waves during the atmospheric river that hit California on Wednesday and Thursday, according to posts on social media and confirmed by Santa Cruz County. Photos on Twitter show the ship, whose official name is the SS Palo Alto, sitting significantly farther from the pier in the waters of Monterey Bay. Social media users lamented the damage to an attraction that has been a fixture in the Santa Cruz County town of Aptos for nearly 100...

Data published Wednesday by a respected environmental think tank indicates Germany likely missed its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions again last year, despite a big effort by the new government to expand the renewable energy use. Agora Energiewende think tank said in a report that the country released the equivalent of 761 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the main planet-warming gas, in 2022. This was slightly below the previous year but still above Germany’s target of cutting emissions by 40% by 2020. While Germany met its target in 2020, that was largely due to the pandemic-related economic downturn....

Crazy flooding in San Francisco CA! Storm with a record rainfall in one day! San Francisco California: San Francisco sees record rain as flooding shuts down highway One of the wettest days on record in San Francisco occurred as a winter storm brought flooding and significant snowfall to California. The National Weather Service for the San Francisco Bay Area reported that more than 5 inches of rain fell in downtown San Francisco on Saturday, breaking the previous day record. The organization said that the final day of the year is "making a run for wettest calendar day ever." According to...

(Photos and image at link.)A powerful transmitter in remote Alaska sent long wavelength radio signals into space Tuesday with the purpose of bouncing them off an asteroid to learn about its interior.The asteroid, 2010 XC15, is estimated to be about 500 feet across and is passing by Earth at two lunar distances, which is twice the distance between the Earth and the moon. Results of Tuesday’s experiment at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program research facility at Gakona could aid efforts to defend Earth from larger asteroids that could cause significant damage.“We will be analyzing the data over the next...

We’re warned that Antarctica’s adjoining Southern Ocean is caught in an irreversible descending spiral, where life is scarce and on the verge of collapse. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the choice is clear: Radically reduce fossil fuels over an aggressive timeline or be complicit in the planet’s destruction. This distortion and selective manipulation of data and its use of public shaming are the tools of inquisitions, not rational scientific inquiry. Contrary to the incessant media barrage that predicts Antarctica’s demise, my personal experience during a three-week visit in November to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island,...

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - A Gainesville man's attempt to rob the employees of a local business became than he bargained after it turned into what police described "like a scene from Home Alone." The Gainesville police say that 30-year-old Luis Sajbocho-Ordonez had hid himself behind a business on the 400 block of Atlanta Highway in the early morning hours of Christmas Day. When an employee exited the store, police say Sajbocho-Ordonez pulled a gun on them and demanded cash, leading to a struggle. Investigators say Sajbocho-Ordonez became startled when another employee left the building and fired a shot, which didn't hit...

State and military police were sent Tuesday to keep people off Buffalo’s snow-choked roads, and officials kept counting fatalities three days after western New York’s deadliest storm in at least two generations. Even as suburban roads and most major highways in the area reopened, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned that police would be stationed at entrances to Buffalo and at major intersections because some drivers were flouting a ban on driving within New York’s second-most populous city. More than 30 people are reported to have died in the region, officials said, including seven storm-related deaths announced Tuesday by Buffalo...

Southern California is set to experience a drastic drop in temperatures on Monday while a powerful winter storm is expected to hit Northern California starting late Monday and bring several inches of rain and heavy winds. An atmospheric river, or a weather system that moves high concentrations of water vapor outside of the tropics, could on Tuesday bring up 1 to 3 inches of rain to the coastal areas, with higher elevations receiving upward of 3 to 5 inches, the National Weather Service told CBS San Francisco. The atmospheric river could be as strong as a Category 3, with a...

News coverage following the Blizzard of 1977 in Buffalo, NY (WGRZ-TV File