Free Republic

First, the stage must be set. The joke that currently occupies the Bully Pulpit says he’s the first climate president, says he’s making history by confronting the climate crisis, not denying it. “I’m taking the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world.” Now to his latest tactic.Biden gave a warning on climate change in September 2021, when he surveyed damage caused by Hurricane Ida in New York and New Jersey. “We’ve got to listen to the scientists ... they all tell us this is code red. ... The nation and the world are in peril,...

Not all bats are unbelievably, overwhelmingly adorable, like the one below. Many of them have wrinkly faces and large ears that help them “see” in the dark, using echolocation. But all bats are, without a doubt, exceptional creatures. Not only do bats pollinate our crops, prey on pests like mosquitos, and spread seeds that help damaged ecosystems recover, but they also possess a superpower that’s unique among mammals: flight

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed Wednesday that he was saving his state from 'radical green zealots' by removing references of 'climate change' from the state's energy policy and banning offshore windmills. DeSantis, a failed 2024 presidential hopeful, signed into law a bill that additionally gives preferential treatment to natural gas companies and scraps a requirement that state-purchased vehicles are fuel efficient. With 8,346 miles of shoreline and water surrounding three of its side, Florida is the most vulnerable or close to being the most at-risk state when it comes to climate change impacts, according to a number of metrics. 'The...

The legislation deletes more than 50 lines of previous state statutes dealing with climate change. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation (HB 1645) on Wednesday that will erase several instances of the words “climate change” from state statutes and restructure the state’s fossil fuel-based energy policy that listed climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions. The priority now is to ensure “an adequate, reliable and cost-effective supply of energy for the state in a manner that promotes the health and welfare of the public and economic growth,” as spelled out in a legislative analysis. “Florida rejects the...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has turned to climate change to explain how the state went from a $100 billion surplus two years ago to a $28 billion deficit, which would have been even higher prior to drastic actions last month. As CalMatters noted, deficit estimates ranged from $38 billion to $73 billion: That prompted Newsom and the Legislature to take “early action” last month to reduce the deficit by more than $17 billion ahead of the regular budget process. Their plan included some program cuts, but mostly relied on new revenue, internal borrowing and funding delays and shifts for...

‘NO Climate Crisis’ Says Coalition of 1,600 Actual ScientistsThe United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is ‘one of the worst sources of dangerous misinformation’ “There is ‘NO Climate Crisis’ says a coalition of 1,600 actual scientists” in a recent letter to the California Air Resources Board. In fact, the scientists find that “California is in no danger of unusual drought: The annual precipitation in California has fluctuated greatly over the last 150 years, with only a slight decrease.” California also has record low levels of air pollution that are below the threshold of human health effects, James E. Enstrom,...

A leading climate scientist has suggested a virulent pandemic killing swathes of the human population is the only way to reduce carbon emissions enough to halt climate change. Professor Bill McGuire was previously a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), a British government body that advised politicians on the Covid pandemic response. He also helped author a report for the notorious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations (UN) body that has helped drive climate policy globally despite making a slew of errors. “If I am brutally honest, the only realistic way I see emissions...

I have had several posts on a collection of related cases that I have called “The Stupidest Litigations In The Country.” These are cases where climate hysterics have sued oil and gas producing companies, or the federal government, or both, seeking various extreme punishments ranging from massive damages up to and including an order to end all production of fossil fuels. The asserted grounds vary somewhat from case to case, but a central theme is a claimed constitutional right to a “clean and healthy environment.” My last update on these cases was a post on April 9. A main subject...

Professor Bill McGuire is a well-known vulcanologist and climate scientist who doesn't care much for humanity. He tweeted out a scathingly brilliant idea if you're in the mortuary business or work as a grave digger. "If I am brutally honest, the only realistic way I see emissions falling as fast as they need to, to avoid catastrophic #climate breakdown, is the culling of the human population by a pandemic with a very high fatality rate." https://t.co/hzga69EhV3— Bill McGuire (@ProfBillMcGuire) May 11, 2024Ooopsie. McGuire deleted the tweet a few hours later but had no regrets. The trouble is, we just don't...

ROME, Italy — Climate change has brought the world to the “breaking point,” Pope Francis asserted in his introduction to a 3-day climate summit to be held in the Vatican in May. A firm believer in the climate “crisis,” the pontiff wrote that he has “heartfelt concerns” for “our suffering planet,” contending that “the world in which we live is collapsing” because of humanity’s failure to adequately address the crisis.

California Democrats are frustrated by many of their consumers. No matter how much they plead, whine, and cajole, people simply aren't buying electric vehicles in the numbers the state is demanding. And progress in getting charging stations up and running is far behind schedule. Also, all of the electrical power being flushed into these systems is expensive. But don't worry about any of that. Gavin Newsom and the Democrats have a plan to address all of these woes. In order to subsidize the cost of electric vehicles and encourage more people to buy them, they're going to tack on a...

Millions of middle-class California households are poised to pay an extra $24 per month for electricity, regardless of how much electricity they use. Regulators are hoping this utility billing policy will rescue their agenda to move everyone to electric cars and appliances by redistributing the massive costs of the state’s electric grid so utilities can lower their usage rates. But critics say the income-based premium will likely further hike utility costs for millions of Californians—nearly one-fifth of whom are already behind in paying their bills after household electricity rates almost doubled in the last decade—and likely won’t do much to...

CNN — The Chevrolet Malibu, the last sedan still sold by General Motors’ biggest selling brand, will end production this year, the company announced. Malibu production will end in November as the factory that builds it, the Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, is reconfigured to build a new generation of the Chevrolet Bolt EV. With the Malibu’s demise, General Motors’ mainstream Chevrolet brand will sell only trucks, SUVs, and the Corvette, a two-seat sports car, in the United States. Chevy’s close competitor, Ford, made a similar move years ago when it stopped selling the Taurus and Fusion sedans,...

Attorneys general in 25 states have banded together to file a legal challenge to another "unlawful" Environmental Protection Agency policy that is part of President Joe Biden's crusade to "end" fossil fuels and force an energy "transition." At issue this time: the EPA's final rule establishing "New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units" as well as "Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units" and the "Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule." Stemming from a 2009 Obama-era EPA "conclusion" that greenhouse gas (GHG)...

Carbon capture and underground storage (CCUS) tops the list of silly schemes “to reduce man-made global warming.” The idea is to capture exhaust gases from power stations or cement plants, separate the CO2 from the other gases, compress it, pump it to the chosen burial site, and force it underground into permeable rock formations. Then hope it never escapes. An Australian mining company who should know better is hoping to appease green critics by proposing to bury the gas of life, CO2, deep in the sedimentary rocks of Australia’s Great Artesian Basin. The people running this company have chosen the...

Forty-two was the mystical number that explained “life, the universe, and everything” in Douglas Adams’ comic novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Today, another mystical number, the so-called social cost of carbon (SSC), is providing the excuse for the Environmental Protection Agency and green-energy-enamored state regulators to enact crippling energy policies.The SCC is the thumb on the scale that can justify virtually any policy aimed at eliminating fossil fuels. When the EPA first proposed its rule to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, the agency’s cost-benefit analysis determined the benefits would be minuscule. Any putative benefits, it turns...

The world just experienced its hottest April on record, extending an 11-month streak in which every month set a temperature record...[I urge readers to scroll through the Comments. At least 70% are well informed and well written criticism. It feels like the political tide has turned on this hugely expensive and completely bogus crisis.]

A weekend spring storm that drenched the San Francisco Bay area and closed Northern California mountain highways also set a single-day snowfall record for the season on Sunday in the Sierra Nevada. The wet weather system had mostly moved out of the state by Sunday morning, but officials warned that roads would remain slick after around two feet (60 centimeters) of snow fell in some areas of the Sierra. “Did anyone have the snowiest day of the 2023/2024 season being in May on their winter bingo card?” the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab asked on the social...

Carbon dioxide is a pollutant, the Environmental Protection Agency says. It’s been drilled into us for more than 30 years that we have to cut our CO2 emissions if we don’t want the world to end too soon. But we know that the climate scare is in no way related to protecting the sky. The data tell us so. Over the last three calendar years, 2021, 2022, and 2023, “​​​​no country has reduced its carbon emissions more than any other major nation on a per capita basis,” the Committee to Unleash Prosperity tells us. “Even though our GDP is about...

Cities, towns and vacation spots across the American South are 'drowning' under rapidly rising tides that could soon put them underwater. Ocean levels are at least six inches higher than they were a decade ago along a swathe of the country from Texas to North Carolina. An overall rising ocean is coupled with vicious tidal events that wreak havoc and kill locals, especially when they coincide with storms. The problem is already affecting thousands of Americans living along the coast, and millions more across the US will feel it in the coming decades. Climate change is steadily raising sea levels...