Free Republic

The new report found that all but three of those cities were located in China. Just about two dozen cities, from a sample of more than 160 urban centers, contribute more than 50% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report. The report, published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, found that just 25 cities, analyzed from a sample of 167 metropolitan areas in 53 countries, comprise 52% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Atlantic Ocean’s sensitive circulation system has become slower and less resilient, according to a new analysis of 150 years of temperature data — raising the possibility that this crucial element of the climate system could collapse within the next few decades. Scientists have long seen the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, as one of the planet’s most vulnerable “tipping elements” — meaning the system could undergo an abrupt and irreversible change, with dramatic consequences for the rest of the globe. Under Earth’s current climate, this aquatic conveyor belt transports warm, salty water from the tropics to the North...

July 12 (UPI) -- The Biden administration has announced plans to continue its reduction of hydrofluorocarbons, releasing a new rule that aims to cut the United States' use of the greenhouse gases by almost half starting next year. Hydrofluorocarbon is a category of greenhouse gases used for refrigeration and air-conditioning as well as in a number of other applications, but is linked to global warming. The final rule announced Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency will reduce HFC consumption in the United States based on historic levels by 40% between 2024 and 2028. The reduction will be on top of...

But the claims underpinning South Pole’s success have been losing ground like the ice underfoot that day two summers ago. The company’s biggest moneymaker is a mega-project in Zimbabwe called Kariba, which South Pole claimed has prevented the annihilation of a forest nearly the size of Puerto Rico. That’s South Pole’s business model: help finance projects that can credibly counteract rising levels of greenhouse gas, such as by stopping deforestation, and then sell the resulting credit to corporate clients who want to compensate for their own planet-warming pollution. Yet according to several outside experts and South Pole’s own analysis, the...

The briefing is now complete in Concerned Household Electricity Consumers Council v. EPA. That is the case, currently pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where a small and brave band of electricity consumers, CHECC, challenges the “science” behind EPA’s 2009 finding that CO2 and other “greenhouse gases” constitute a danger to human health and welfare. I am one of the attorneys for CHECC. Our final Reply Brief was filed originally on Tuesday February 7, and then re-filed in corrected form the next day. (The reason for “correction” is too trivial to go into here. The...

In yet another stunning move that barely registers as a shock anymore, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez labeled oxygen as a so-called “dangerous greenhouse gas” in a speech delivered to a climate-change skeptics group. “Oxygen is a very insidious gas,” said the self-described Democratic Socialist, who is surely no stranger to the radical notion. “It causes irreparable damage to our environment, with earth-poisoning properties that are only now beginning to be understood. We must take swift action in curbing its emissions and limiting the amount that individuals can encounter over their lifespans.”

As California, New York, and other states move to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars, public officials routinely echo the Biden administration’s claim that electric vehicles are a “zero emissions” solution that can significantly mitigate the effects of climate change. Car and energy experts, however, say there is no such thing as a zero-emissions vehicle: For now and the foreseeable future, the energy required to manufacture and power electric cars will leave a sizable carbon footprint. In some cases hybrids can be cleaner alternatives in states that depend on coal to generate electricity, and some suggest that it may...

... Though biofuels have been touted for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, assessing the environmental impact of bioethanol requires including greenhouse gas emissions related to the crops needed for its production. And "the carbon balance of ethanol relative to gasoline isn't as good as it was originally anticipated," Tyler Lark, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told AFP. In 2005, Congress passed a "Renewable Fuel Standard," which required transportation fuel to include a volume of biofuel that increased over time. The law was further expanded in 2007. As a result, 2.8 million additional hectares of corn were...

China’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 exceeded those of the U.S. and the developed world combined, according to a report published Thursday by research and consulting firm Rhodium Group. The country’s emissions more than tripled during the past three decades, the report added. China is now responsible for more than 27% of total global emissions. The U.S., which is the world’s second-highest emitter, accounts for 11% of the global total. India is responsible for 6.6% of global emissions, edging out the 27 nations in the EU, which account for 6.4%, the report said. The findings come after a climate summit...

The EU won't be able to lead by example if other countries can see what the Green Deal is actually headed toward: economic ruin, job loss, and more unwanted government intrusion. TimeÂ’s person of the year is a teenage activist famous for castigating adults across the world over their perceived inaction on climate change. Other activists tell us the world is burning down around us and weÂ’re doing nothing to stop it.Politicians and scientists are forcing policies on people and employers in moves to supposedly save the world without offering realistic, cost-effective, alternative energy sources. Of all the ills facing...

Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA), who was the first presidential candidate to drop out of the race after receiving virtually no support from voters, appeared to have an embarrassing moment during an interview on Monday as it appeared as though he farted on live television. Swalwell has since responded to incident, after it went viral on social media, and denied that it was him.

Watch and enjoy

During a pause in @RepSwalwell's answer on MSNBC, a very audible suspicious noise is picked up by a microphone. https://t.co/GBG7qNHga6 https://t.co/OMvRtQ8dvx

The Department of Energy announced this week that it’s withdrawing the Obama administration’s energy-rationing mandate for certain lightbulbs. Opponents criticized the rule change, arguing that the move would be bad for consumers and the climate. The reality, however, is that families and businesses will be better off, and the change will have a negligible impact on the environment. The Energy Department’s decision to withdraw energy-efficiency standards for candle-shaped, globe-shaped, three-way and reflector lightbulbs is a victory for consumer choice. Whether it’s buying a lightbulb or a new car, families have different preferences and needs. They consider the various trade-offs in...

Those who talk about carbon dioxide affecting temperature ignore the fact that water's potential to affect air temperature is well established in science. Water vapor is the only atmospheric gas that can hold or "trap" heat. Those who spend much time in greenhouses know that they are often very humid places because water evaporates from plants and from surfaces that get wet when the plants are watered. Meteorologists typically refer to the water vapor content of the air as relative humidity which is how close the air is to holding as much water vapor as it can hold at its...

United States carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the power sector and the broader economy have declined 61 percent between 2006 and 2014, mainly from "switching from coal-to-gas-powered generation," according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Second Installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review, January 2017.  These environmentally sound numbers from higher use of natural gas can also be translated globally to help with pollution in countries such as China, India, and the entire continent of Africa. The U.S. now uses natural gas converted to liquid natural gas (LNG) from shale deposits in states such as Texas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania to...

New York City is about to embark on an ambitious plan to fight climate change that would force thousands of large buildings, like the Empire State Building and Trump Tower, to sharply reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation, expected to be passed by the City Council on Thursday, would set emission caps for many different types of buildings, with the goal of achieving a 40 percent overall reduction of emissions by 2030. Buildings that do not meet the caps could face steep fines. The effort comes as New York, among other states, has undertaken a number of initiatives to...

White individuals disproportionately affect the environment through their eating habits by eating more foods that require more water and release more greenhouse gases through their production compared to foods black and Latinx individuals eat, according to a new report published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. The report takes an in-depth look at what different demographic populations eat, how much greenhouse gas those foods are responsible for, and how much land and water they require. The study was undertaken to get a better understanding of the environmental impacts of the food consumption patterns of major demographic groups so that environmental...

New research shows that garbage piles produced by leaf-cutter ants emit significant amounts of nitrous oxide—a potent greenhouse gas. Chemical reactions within the organic waste piles produced by leaf-cutter ants create copious amounts of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, according to new research published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. These industrious insects aren’t contributing to global warming on the scale of human activities, but their behaviors are fundamentally altering the composition and function of tropical forests—including the way nutrients are transported and recycled.

Despite being lauded by President Obama for signing the Paris U.N. climate change accord, China is still rapidly expanding greenhouse gas emissions. President Obama and China's President Xi Jinping issued a "U.S.-China Joint Presidential Statement on Climate Change" on March 31, 2016 stating that both nations were signing the Paris Accord and would take further "concrete steps" to "use public resources to finance and encourage the transition toward low carbon technologies as a priority."  The joint statement on climate change was trumpeted as creating "an enduring legacy of partnership." President Obama's "concrete steps" for the U.S. to combat climate change...