Free Republic

The Polish government wants to start producing nuclear energy in 2033 and has agreed to deals with the US and France. But Germany is increasingly alarmed by its neighbor’s energy plans. […] The EU member has to find new sources of energy in order to meet the bloc’s climate, energy and environmental targets. Poland currently depends on coal for 70% of its energy and is thus one of the most polluting EU states. But Poland’s energy transition is not driven by external pressure alone. Brown coal mining in central Poland, which currently supplies 20% of the country’s energy, is set...

USA, Washington: President Joe Biden suspended for 90 days “Executive Order on Securing the United States Bulk-Power System,” signed by former President Trump. Biden’s “Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis” noted that the Secretary of Energy and director of the Office of Management and Budget are to jointly consider whether to recommend that a replacement order be issued. As the source reported, in his 1 May 2020 executive order, Trump said that he finds that “the unrestricted acquisition or use in the United States of bulk-power system electric equipment...

Federal authorities in Seattle on Monday charged two women with a terrorist attack on train tracks, suggesting they were working with an anarchist community to stand in solidarity with a Native American tribe to oppose the construction of a natural gas pipeline across the Canadian province of British Columbia by trying to derail trains in Washington state.Samantha Frances Brooks, 27, and Ellen Brennan Reiche, 23, were arrested Saturday night in Bellingham, located in Whatcom County, which borders Canada, as they allegedly placed “shunts” on Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks, according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in...

A decade-long global effort to save Earth’s disappearing species and declining ecosystems has mostly stumbled, with fragile habitats like coral reefs and tropical forests in more trouble than ever, researchers said in a report Tuesday. In 2010, more than 150 countries agreed to goals to protect nature, but the new United Nations scorecard found that the world has largely failed to meet 20 different targets to safeguard species and ecosystems. Six of those 20 goals were “partially achieved,” and the rest were not. […] Inger Andersen, who leads the U.N. environment program, called it a global failure. “From COVID-19 to...

McDonald’s is planning a test that it said could reduce packaging waste. The Chicago-based fast food chain said it has partnered with packaging service Loop to run a trial of reusable coffee cups at some of its UK restaurants next year. Customers at the participating locations will have the option to pay a small deposit for a durable, reusable cup when buying a hot beverage, according to McDonald’s. They can then redeem the deposit by returning the cup after finishing the drink. The cups will then be washed and sanitized by Loop and reused at McDonald’s again. It’s a major...

Hollywood director Spike Lee suggested that Earth was “angry” at mankind for going “too far” and unleashed the Chinese coronavirus pandemic as a form of revenge. “Before Corona, after Corona. This is changing everything,” the BlacKkKlansman director said during an interview on SiriusXM’s The Joe Madison Show. “But you know why, the reason, I read an article about it. How pollution is clearing up. Skies are clear. Animals are coming out. I mean you know, the Earth was angry at us,” Lee explained. “People may think I’m crazy that I believe it in my heart and soul. That we had...

“We see ourselves not as an owner of wild rice but a symbiotic partner and a parallel entity from the Creator,” says Frank Bibeau, a lawyer from the Anishinaabe indigenous group in the United States and Canada. Harvesters use flailing sticks to beat the wild rice — or manoomin, by its Anishinaabe name — and release grain into the air. “A good portion of the rice gets sent out in all directions to reseed the rice. Maybe half of it or a little more falls into the canoe for food,” Bibeau explains. “So we are part of the natural reseeding...

The Trump administration on Wednesday approved a right-of-way allowing the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline to be built across U.S. land, pushing the controversial $8 billion project closer to construction though court challenges still loom. The approval signed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and obtained by The Associated Press covers 46 miles (74 kilometers) of the pipeline’s route across land in Montana that’s controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Casey Hammond, assistant secretary of the Interior Department. Those segments of federal land are a small fraction of the pipeline’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer)...

Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, has voted against a bill proposed by the Greens that would have introduced a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour) on the nation’s highways. Out of the 631 votes cast on Thursday, 498 voted against the proposal. All members of the far-right AfD and the business-friendly FDP parties rejected the bill, and just two members from each of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and conservative parties voted for the proposal. There were only a handful of abstentions. “You’re defending a transport policy from the day before yesterday,” said Cem Özdemir, Green...

Two prototypes and new partnerships have brought Danish brewing giant Carlsberg a step closer to releasing a paper beer bottle. Carlsberg said in a press release that it was close to selling beer in paper bottles, in part to the partnership. Having worked on development of sustainable packaging since 2015, the company is scheduled to present two prototype paper bottles in Copenhagen on Friday. […] A “paper bottle union” between Carlsberg, The Paper Bottle Company (Paboco) and three other global companies — Coca-Cola, L’Oréal and The Absolut Company — is driving the development, according to the Danish brewery. …

Pope Francis has placed a ban on plastic in Vatican City State to 'stand in solidarity' with environmentalists, according to reports. The Pontiff made the announcement while aboard the papal plane during a long-haul flight back from a trip to Africa. The Catholic leader said he was disturbed by a conversation with chaplains and fishermen who described how they had found six tons of plastic over the course of a few months.

....going on the road to 100 cities with his pledge to “save the climate” is not explained. Maybe Fox has some mysterious way of traveling to 100 cities that does not involve air travel and burning of large quantities of fossil fuels. Or maybe Fox doesn’t really believe in climate change and is using fear to push his anti-American, anti-business and anti-modernity agenda. Or maybe like so many Hollywood elites Josh Fox believes that climate change restrictions are for the little people. He is important and has important work to do. Others need to ditch their cars or not fly...

Pope Francis is hoping that the 50th anniversary of the first moon walk inspires efforts to help our “common home” on Earth. […] He expressed hope that the memory of “that great step for humanity” would spark the desire for progress on other fronts: “more dignity for the weak, more justice among people, more future for our common home.” …

Americans will need to cut their average consumption of beef by about 40% and Europeans by 22%, for the world to continue to feed the 10 billion people expected to live on this planet in 2050, according to a new report. That means each person could have about a burger and a half each week. This calculation comes from the World Resources Institute, a global research nonprofit that supports better use of natural resources to sustain a growing population. Its research looks at agriculture, the climate crisis, poverty and gender, among other topics. Its final "Creating a Sustainable Food Future"...

A U.S. appeals court panel sided with the Trump administration Friday in a mining pollution dispute, ruling that state and federal programs already in place ensure that companies take financial responsibility for future cleanups. The ruling came after the administration was sued by environmental groups for dropping an Obama-era proposal that would have forced companies to put up money to show they have resources to clean up pollution. The mining industry has a legacy of bankrupt companies abandoning polluted sites and leaving taxpayers to cover cleanup costs. But the three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District...

Germany’s Social Democrat (SPD) Environment Minister Svenja Schulze presented three independent studies on possible carbon tax schemes in Berlin on Friday. Insisting such a tax would not unduly burden the poor, she said, “those who decide to live a more climate-friendly life could actually get money back.” The plans Schulze presented suggested an initial €35 ($39.50) tax on each metric ton of CO2, to be increased to €180 by 2030, the idea being that the more expensive petrol, natural gas, and heating oil become, the less people will use. Schulze told reporters that those who consume less, including children, will...

German Development Minister Gerd Müller has called for a ban on plastic bags in Germany, in part to reduce the exports of waste to developing countries. “The ban on plastic straws is not enough,” Müller told the Augsburger Allgemeine. “Germany should not wait for Europe and should immediately ban disposable plastic bags.” The CSU politician noted that some African countries had already banned plastic bags, “We must do what Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda have done.” […] Plastic waste in the sea is set to increase tenfold and with current trends, by 2050, there may be more plastic than fish in...

Maine has become the first state to ban single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill into law Tuesday. The Natural Resources Council of Maine says Maine’s the first state to enact such a ban. […] Supporters say the law will reduce litter in lakes, rivers and coastal waters. It takes effect in 2021. …

n the first significant check on the Trump administration’s “energy-first” agenda, a US judge has temporarily halted hundreds of drilling projects for failing to take climate change into account. Drilling had been stalled on more than 300,000 acres of public land in Wyoming after it was ruled the Trump administration violated environmental laws by failing to consider greenhouse gas emissions. The federal judge has ordered the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages US public lands and issues leases to the energy industry, to redo its analysis. The decision stems from an environmental lawsuit. WildEarth Guardians, Physicians for Social Responsibility,...

AUSTIN, Texas— The Center for Biological Diversity and Save Our Springs Alliance today filed a notice of intent to sue the Texas Department of Transportation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over an Austin highway construction project’s threats to the federally endangered Austin blind and Barton Springs salamanders. The conservation groups recently learned that the MoPac Intersections Project has exposed at least 21 underground caves, sink holes and other karst features that provide habitat for the endangered salamanders. There is a high risk that construction will pollute the two species’ habitat by introducing silt and pollutants to the subsurface. The...