House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) is releasing a climate bill this week. The purpose is “to put the GOP on the map on climate” in response to polls reporting that enough young voters have finally succumbed to a lifetime of being propagandized on climate.
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Minnesota House Democrats said they will once again prioritize gun control and climate change during the upcoming legislative session.
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Despite voicing increased concerns over climate change, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are turning to private planes to aid tight schedules amid President Trump’s impeachment hearing.
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A conservative policy fellow with the Center of the American Experiment applied for Gov. Tim Walz’s “Advisory Council on Climate Change,” which promised to “represent different perspectives and experiences.”
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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled Friday that children do not have standing to sue the Trump administration and the federal government for not adequately addressing climate change.
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New South Wales police charged more than 20 people for deliberately starting fires across Australia as the country beats back wildfires. Activists and celebrities said climate change played a part in the blaze.
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Speaking to a BBC Radio Programme, of which his daughter Greta is guest-editor today, Svante Thunberg said the 16-year-old had become “very happy” as a result of her climate activist work despite facing regular abuse from people who “don’t want to change” their lifestyles and he worries about all the “hate” she faces. Ironically the BBC flew presenter Mishal Husain to Stockholm to interview the teenager and her dad, New York Post reports.
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When I joined Rotary in 2014, one of the most important guides I was given by the members is that Rotary is not political. Although I’ve been involved in local politics for many years, I really have enjoyed putting politics aside and working with other Rotarians of all stripes to help those less fortunate locally and internationally.
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Joesph Stalin allegedly said that the “death of one person is a tragedy; the death of one million is a statistic.” Fitting neatly with his horrendous ideology, our brains are simply not equipped to understand suffering of astonishing proportions – for a single person suffering we feel empathy; with millions we blink cluelessly before looking away, dumbfounded.
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One has to wonder if the shock and despair described in David Bowie’s 1971 hit, “Five Years,” would be the preferred collective mentality for humanity, at least if the relentless propaganda campaigns of climate change activists are successful. And one must admit they have powerful allies at their disposal. A climate alarm consensus informs America’s entire educational, entertainment, and media establishments, along with most corporate marketing, and most political platforms from the local city council to the United Nations.
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At a recent United Nations summit, 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg claimed that the Earth is on the brink of destruction and that older generations are betraying younger ones by not doing enough to stop climate change. The media has amplified these allegations by giving her speech broad, glowing coverage, but the fears she expressed are not grounded in reality.
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When you’re several decades older than Greta Thunberg, her impassioned warning of impending doom hits you differently than it may college students or early twentysomethings. In a word, it sounded “familiar.”
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Climate change activists protested on the streets of Washington, D.C., Monday, aiming to shut down the city in an effort to push the government to take action on the climate crisis.
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On Friday, schoolchildren around the world will be prompted to walk out of class as part of the “Global Climate Strike.” These young “climate strikers” will protest alleged inaction on climate change and promote an end to fossil fuel use.
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Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker announced a pricey climate plan Tuesday, marking a trend as the New Jersey Democrat joins other presidential candidates who are pushing trillion-dollar plans to tackle global warming.
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The international news coverage of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fires has been a complete disaster. News outlets published inaccurate yet easily verifiable “facts” about the number of fires, declaring the situation “record-breaking” and “unprecedented.” Social media lit up with misleading claims about the loss of planetary oxygen supply (20 percent, said French President Emmanuel Macron) threatening to asphyxiate us all. Stock photos and images of forest fires from the last two decades including Peru and Bolivia were shared widely and wildly. Celebrities and politicians alike heaped condemnation upon Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leading to an ongoing geopolitical crisis.
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For decades, American workers have watched as their ability to enjoy middle-class lifestyles erodes away. Conventional explanations abound. American industry in the immediate aftermath of World War II was uniquely unscathed, and with a near-monopoly on global manufacturing, it was able to pass much of the ample profits on to workers. It wasn’t until the 1970s that American manufacturers confronted serious foreign competition, and ever since, the competition has only become more intense.
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Humanity has only 18 months left to take decisive political steps to avert the catastrophic effects of climate change, according to a report Wednesday by the BBC.
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During a Thursday hearing before the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL-05) got a panel of climate science experts to admit that “humans are not responsible for the Earth’s global warming that has occurred over the past 20,000 years.” All four of the experts who testified agreed that humans didn’t cause the global warming that began 20,000 years ago and continues through today. Additionally, Brooks pointed out that sea levels have risen an average of two feet per century over the past 20,000 years, which is “double the global warming enthusiasts’ claimed average sea level rise rate of one foot per century since 1993,” Brooks said. “The gist of the experts’ opinions is that the Earth was too lightly populated by humans to make humanity responsible for the Earth’s global warming that began 20,000 years ago,” Brooks sarcastically touted in a press release. During his line of questioning, Brooks asked the panel of experts if, in their judgment, human beings caused “the global warming that began 20,000 years ago during the last glacial maximum.” “No, no. Absolutely not. It is an example of spontaneous natural variability, one of the many ways that this whole…
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by Michael Bastach House Democrats’ climate change hearing is based on “inaccurate” information that’s “not in accord with current science or consensus,” according to a scientist. A Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee will hold a hearing Tuesday on natural disaster policy “in the wake of climate change.” However, Democrats are under fire for making claims on the hearing’s webpage that don’t line up with the facts. Atmospheric scientist Ryan Maue, a hurricane expert, tweeted that the Democrats’ hearing “spreads lies” about the scientific consensus on climate change and hurricanes. The House subcommittee is chaired by California Rep. Harley Rouda and includes Green New Deal champion New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a member. Maue pointed out that major scientific assessments cast doubt on claims global warming is increasing hurricane frequency or intensity. “This is not in accord with current science or consensus anywhere = fraud,” Maue said of House Democrats’ climate claims, which relies on information on information posted online by environmental activists. https://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/1142809306267639809 Maue took issue with Democrats’ claim that “due to climate change, ‘the number of hurricanes that reach Categories 4 and 5 in strength has roughly doubled’ since the 1970s” – a claim that doesn’t line up with scientific…
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by Kyle Hooten Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar’s campaign posted an agenda to Medium Tuesday for her first 100 days in office, should she win the 2020 presidential election. Several measures to relax immigration law rank among her top priorities. The Minnesota Senator stated she would also rejoin the Paris Agreement, ban “assault weapons,” raise the minimum wage and promote socialized medicine. Last February, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the immigration crisis. In doing so, he “used authority provided by Congress to access up to $3.6 billion in military construction funds provided by Congress” to secure the southern border, according to a White House release. “Senator Klobuchar will rescind [Trump’s] national emergency declaration,” and bar the use of military construction funds on the southern border, her Medium post states. In addition to diverting money away from border security, Klobuchar hopes to actively increase refugee intake. “Under President Trump, the State Department has dramatically lowered the annual cap on the number of refugees that can be resettled in the United States. Senator Klobuchar will direct the State Department to restore the cap to at least its pre-Trump Administration level,” her agenda reads. She further vows to “put…
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Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) said that if he’s elected president he would make sure “every aspect of society” is focused on curbing climate change. Ryan recently sat down with The New York Times for its “Meet the Candidates” series where he answered a number of questions about his presidential platform. “I do. Yes. We have to marshal every aspect of our society, our government, our free enterprise system, our educational institutions, our venture capital—all has to be pointing in the direction of reversing climate change,” Ryan said in response to whether he thinks it’s possible for the next president to stop climate change. “I think if we do it right, if we engage the free enterprise system, if we align the environmental incentives with the financial incentives, that we can actually do it a lot quick than most people think,” he added. On the issue of health care, Ryan reiterated his belief that the country needs to “move towards a single-payer system.” “We need to move towards a single-payer system,” he told The Times. “I think the natural next step is to have some public option for people to be able to buy affordable, accessible, quality health care. We…
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by Edward Ring Front running 2020 presidential contender Joe Biden has just released his climate “plan,”claiming that with a $1.7 trillion federal investment, U.S. carbon emissions will reach zero within 30 years. You can say this for Biden – the canny old campaigner isn’t highlighting his climate plan as a cure-all for social injustice. Unlike the “Green New Deal,” Biden leaves out of his blueprint a federal job guarantee, universal healthcare, and housing. And while he includes the obligatory obeisance to inclusion, diversity, equity, indigenous peoples, vulnerable communities, people of color, and every other paint-by-number platitude, those aren’t his main focus. Nope, Joe is marketing the lunch box issues. Union jobs. Infrastructure. Energy leadership. Exports. Industries of the future. Moreover, Biden’s plan, unlike the Green New Deal, does not read like a college term paper. But if you’re a climate skeptic, or if you’re skeptical that bigger government is the answer, this plan should have you worried. Because it comes very close to offering a consensus plan that even some of Trump’s swing voters might support: which is to fund technology initiatives and infrastructure projects that should be funded anyway, regardless of whether or not rising levels of atmospheric CO2 are…
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Sam Rockwell, president of the Minneapolis Planning Commission, suggested in a recent op-ed for The Star Tribune that in order “to save the planet, we have to get over cars.” “The way we live our lives is how we got into this climate catastrophe in the first place. Of course we have to change. And that means driving less, not just switching which model sedan we buy. It means transforming how our personal needs relate to stewardship of our Earth and our communities,” Rockwell said in the article. He was responding to a May 20 article published in The Star Tribune that “paints a picture of an electric-vehicle-filled world,” which he doesn’t think would be enough. Rockwell pointed to Minneapolis’ “2040 Plan,” which explains that “even with the adoption of electric cars, a 38% reduction in passenger miles traveled by automobile is needed.” “If we are obliged to reduce car travel—and perhaps even ownership—does that mean we’re stuck with Jordan’s ‘dreary post-apocalyptic future’? Only if you believe Paris, Vancouver, and New York fit that description. These communities and many others are built around comprehensive transit systems,” Rockwell continued. “Success of these systems, and the dense land uses that support…
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by Edward Ring Just over 10 years ago, the world lost Michael Crichton, bestselling author and screenwriter, who succumbed to cancer at age 66. His loss was greater than we could have known at the time. During the final years of his life, Crichton became increasingly focused on the politicization of science. Few critics of this corruption, if any, are as articulate and influential as Michael Crichton was in his time. And now politicized science, and the justifications it provides activists, journalists, politicians, and corporate opportunists, is more dangerous than ever. Crichton’s scientific background – he obtained a medical degree in 1969, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies – distinguished him from the typical author of thrillers, and informed his life-long interest in science and technology. Whenever Crichton expressed skepticism about the latest environmental crisis of the century, he had credibility. One of the most succinct and moving examples of Crichton’s thoughts on this topic came in the form of a speech he gave in 2003 at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, titled “Environmentalism As Religion.” The transcript offers a compelling defense of rational environmentalism vs. environmentalism as a religion, and warns against the politicization of…
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by Michael Bastasch Australia’s left-wing Labor Party decided to make tackling climate change the centerpiece of its electoral strategy. It lost in a major election upset Saturday. The election results present a warning to U.S. Democrats pushing costly global warming policies at the national level. “Every time liberal politicians try to impose their climate change agenda on the electorate they get rebuffed at the polls,” Tom Pyle, president of the free-market American Energy Alliance, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The Labor Party made tackling climate change the centerpiece of its effort to retake Australia’s legislature from the conservative Liberal-National Coalition, which opposes climate taxes and supports coal power. Exit polling projected a Labor win, according to BBC. Labor saw climate change as a winning ticket after record summer heat, alarming Great Barrier Reef headlines and intense storms battered Australia in the last year. “It is not the Australian way to avoid and duck the hard fights. We will take this emergency seriously, and we will not just leave it to other countries or to the next generation,” Labor Party leader Bill Shorten said in mid-May before ballots were cast. At the end of the day, however, a surge of support from…
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Minneapolis wants to ban all new drive-thru windows citywide in order to cut down on carbon emissions produced by idling cars. The City Planning Commission has been considering a drive-thru ban since 2017, but the idea didn’t really start to come to fruition until the 2018 conversations surrounding the “Minneapolis 2040” comprehensive city plan. Now, according to a report prepared by the planning commission, a new ordinance wants to take language included in the comprehensive city plan and “expand the prohibition of new drive-through facilities to all zoning districts citywide.” “A text amendment that specifically addresses regulations is timely given the number of proposals for new drive-through facilities that have been considered by the City Planning Commission in the last few years and the undesirable impacts these uses have,” the report states. “Said impacts include noise, extended idling, proliferation of curb cuts, conflicts with pedestrians, and traffic generation.” The report lists seven pending proposals to build new drive-thru windows within city limits for businesses such as banks, pharmacies, coffee shops, and fast-food restaurants. Some, however, think the ban would have an adverse impact on the most vulnerable residents, such as the elderly and disabled, or even parents with young…
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by Michael Bastach The United Nations is out with another alarming report, claiming that one million species, more than ever before, are threatened with imminent extinction if drastic actions aren’t taken. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s similar warning to one given by the head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) nearly four decades ago. In 1982, UNEP executive director Mostafa Tolba warned U.N. delegates from 100 countries that “on almost every front, there has been a marked deterioration in the quality of our shared environment.” Tolba continued, warning that unless governments acted immediately, “by the turn of the century, an environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible as any nuclear holocaust.” Of course, like today, governments weren’t doing enough to stave off the ecological equivalent of nuclear war. But while the 1982 dire prediction made headlines, it’s failure to come true did not. Bjorn Lomborg, environmental policy expert and author, highlighted the 1982 Reuters article on Twitter as hysteria over the new U.N. report swept social media. Lomborg, no skeptic of global warming, pointed out the UNEP was wrong in the 1980s as today’s apocalyptic predictions are likely wrong as well. And here, from 1982, where the…
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by Edward Ring For several days in mid-April, downtown London was paralyzed by thousands of “climate activists” protesting the failure of the British government to act swiftly enough to combat climate change. In mid-March, thousands of students across the United States staged school “walkouts” to demand action on climate change as well. These protests are ongoing, but the underlying logic is hard to see. The primary sources of anthropogenic CO2 are no longer Western nations, which are only responsible for about 30 percent of all global emissions. The biggest single culprit, if you want to call it that, is China, responsible for 28 percent of global emissions, nearly twice as much as the United States, and 28 times as much as the United Kingdom. Rapidly industrializing India, responsible for 6 percent of global CO2 emissions, is on track to become the most populous nation on earth. The chances that China and India will sacrifice their national future in order to reduce CO2 emissions are zero. The same holds for every emerging nation, including the demographic heavyweights Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, along with all the rest. The logic of these protestors also fails when it comes to the science…
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by Michael Bastach Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s $5 trillion climate change plan has not enthused far-left environmentalists, who say it doesn’t go as far as the Green New Deal. “Beto claims to support the Green New Deal, but his plan is out of line with [the] timeline it lays out and the scale of action that scientists say is necessary here in the United States to give our generation a livable future,” Sunrise Movement executive director Varshini Prakash said in a statement. Sunrise Movement Statement in Response to @BetoORourke's Climate Plan: Thread: pic.twitter.com/VzN9Uz6pz5 — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) April 29, 2019 The Green New Deal, introduced by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February, calls for a World War II-style takeover of the U.S. economy to replace fossil fuels with renewables and vastly expand the welfare state, all of which is estimated to cost up to $93 trillion over a decade. O’Rourke, on the other hand, aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, getting halfway there by 2030. The plan also calls for a slew of new regulations and re-entering the Paris climate accord. O’Rourke unveiled his $5 trillion climate change agenda Monday at Yosemite National Park. O’Rourke framed his plan…
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Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) announced Monday that he supports U.S. Youth Climate Strike’s petition to require the Democratic 2020 presidential candidates to have a debate on climate change. “I’m in! Climate change demands unprecedented action that requires our full and complete attention. This is an economic issue, a social justice issue, and a national security issue,” Ryan said on Twitter in response to the U.S. Youth Climate Strike’s request to support the debate. I’m in! Climate change demands unprecedented action that requires our full and complete attention. This is an economic issue, a social justice issue, and a national security issue. @MoveOn https://t.co/CTaJcJ16nY — Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) April 22, 2019 “Tim Ryan is now the fourth presidential candidate to come out in support for our petition and call for a climate debate. Our movement is indefinitely picking up speed, and this is all because of our grassroots. Keep signing and sharing, and we’ll get this victory,” U.S. Youth Climate Strike wrote on Twitter. https://twitter.com/usclimatestrike/status/1120466744500469760 Ryan joins 2020 candidates Jay Inslee, Julian Castro, and Mike Gravel in supporting a debate on climate change, while South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said he will “try to” support the idea. The petition itself,…
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by Bill Wirtz For months, young climate marchers have taken over Europe and the US. Now we know what they actually want – and it’s exactly what we thought it would be. Why They March If you’re unfamiliar with the “Youth4Climate” or “Fridays for Future” movement, it’s probably because, despite having existed in the United States since earlier this year, the phenomenon is more widely covered in Europe. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg skips school in protest on Fridays, demanding that politicians do much more to fight against climate change. Reporters have latched on to her appeal, making her the poster child of a (very) young environmentalist generation. For weeks now, newspapers have been inundated with pictures of large protests for climate action, featuring the funniest signs and leading politicians to describe it as inspirational. Up until now, it wasn’t entirely clear what the climate marchers were actually hoping to achieve. For the most part, activists would merely bemoan the fact that politicians and the rich are standing idly by as the planet moves towards its inevitable collapse in 12 years. But with Greta getting closer to the age of 18, when she would officially be allowed to run for parliament…
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Minnesota lawmakers have officially introduced a state level “Green New Deal” that was inspired in large part by youth-activist organizations. In fact, when introducing his bill Wednesday, Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis) said it was the “first time” he’s ever “witnessed high school students actually writing a bill.” Hornstein was joined at a Wednesday press conference by a handful of student activists with the climate group “MN Can’t Wait,” according to MPR News. The bill itself, officially titled “Minnesota Green New Deal Act,” calls for making the state’s electricity 100 percent carbon-free by 2030. It would also place a “construction moratorium” on allowing state agencies to issue permits to “construct a facility to transport, store, or process coal, crude oil or its derivative products, propane, or natural gas.” “The commission is prohibited from issuing a certificate of need to construct an electric generating plant powered by coal, products refined from crude oil, or natural gas,” the bill adds. Hornstein’s legislation would also establish a “Climate Change Advisory Council” that would “provide recommendations to improve Minnesota state government operations, functions, and policies to identify groups and individuals in need of assistance in adapting to climate change and develop programs to assist those…
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Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) tore into his Democratic colleagues Tuesday for having no “legislative initiatives” apart from attacking President Donald Trump. The comments came during a contentious House Oversight Committee hearing on climate change and its impact on national security. Former Secretary of State John Kerry was called before the committee as a witness, and criticized the Trump administration for the alleged committee it plans to create to study climate change. Kerry called the task force a “council of doubter and deniers,” though Jordan pointed out that it hasn’t even been formed yet. “I’m just asking the fundamental question: how can it be a council of doubters and deniers when it hasn’t even been formed?” Jordan asked. .@JohnKerry calls the President's climate change task force "a council of doubters and deniers." Apparently Mr. Kerry can foretell the future! The task force hasn't even been formed yet! But @OversightDems just spent 4 hours talking about it. pic.twitter.com/6AIX3Tn8It — Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 9, 2019 “Well, it would be,” Kerry responded, to which Jordan jokingly said the former Obama diplomat “can foretell the future.” “You already know who’s on the council and you already know the conclusion they’re going to reach…
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Minnesota House Democrats on the Energy and Climate Finance and Policy Committee unveiled a $53 million omnibus bill this week to tackle climate change in the state. According to a House press release, the omnibus package incorporates elements of 16 different bills that have been introduced this session and is sponsored by Rep. Jean Wagenius (DFL-Minneapolis), chair of the committee. While introducing her bill, Wagenius claimed that research from the U.N. shows that “the world only has the next dozens years to sharply reduce carbon dioxide emissions to head off the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.” “The bill before you is a down payment on an effort to give young Minnesotans the kind of future they want and we want for them,” she said. “Dr. Mark Seeley said that Minnesota has experienced the most profound changes in the country due to climate change. He said the pace of change is unprecedented and well documented by science, and he said he could not overstate the problem.” A new $16 million “Solar for Schools” program would receive the most funding from the $53 million bill. The program, initially proposed in a bill sponsored by Rep. Patty Acomb (DFL-Minnetonka), would provide grants…
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by CHQ Staff We’ve told CHQ readers about the deleterious effects of the “Green New Deal,” a Socialist plan aimed at taking hold of American economic life under the guise of drastically reducing carbon emissions in the next ten years. One of the principle reasons Democrats have launched the “Green New Deal” is because they think climate change hysteria among young people has reached critical mass politically and it is time to capture those votes. “Climate change is the biggest threat to my future. And just because I can’t vote right now, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a voice. I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who is scared and afraid for their future,” Lily Gardner, a 15-year-old student from Eastern Kentucky, told Refinery29 of why she joined a protest outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. “It’s not a question of who knows more or who has been in the business for longer, it’s the question of who is going to be disproportionately impacted by climate change. When people don’t take me seriously, they are not taking my future seriously.” The “Green New Deal” has already received the endorsements of Democrat presidential candidates, like Senators Cory Booker…
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by Bill Wirtz The most fanatical of activists have an impact on actual policies. That is why they cannot be ignored. Greta Thunberg The 16-year-old Swedish student activist has now been nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her environmentalist activism. Thunberg protests the inability of governments to do more to reduce carbon emissions and has sparked large and regular student protests. “#YouthForClimate” has politicians making new demands: In the European Union, the Netherlands is now making the case for a new €7 ($8) tax on flight segments, a policy proposition currently backed by France, Belgium, and Finland. You’ll notice that the tax is supported by countries in which €7 is still affordable for large parts of the population; in Eastern European countries, however, this will present a significant increase, particularly for low-cost flights. Greta Thunberg is directly attacking the way of life of consumers. “If solutions within this system are so difficult to find then maybe we should change the system itself,” she says. The teenage activist is challenging the culture of availability of consumer goods, as well as capitalism itself. She also says we have to fundamentally change our habits in order to eliminate carbon emissions,…
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by Chris White A parent of one of the children suing the U.S. government for not doing enough to confront climate change has a long criminal record connected to her attempts to derail energy projects. Her legal history has flown under the radar as the litigation gains more media traction. Jayden Foytlin is among 21 young people suing the U.S. federal government for not doing more to address global warming. Media reports discussing Jayden’s story have not fleshed out the role her mother, Cherri Foytlin, played in a growing anti-pipeline movement. Cherri has been arrested at least three times during direct action protests, according to copies of her arrest records obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Cherri has become a major actor in the environmental movement, opposing a number of pipeline projects over the past eight years, including the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). She is focused on scuttling the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in southern Louisiana, even as the project nears completion. Many of Cherri’s protests and arrests have been caught on video and used to promote her demonstrations. She can be seen in online videos resisting arrest, arguing with government authorities and refusing to leave a local sheriff’s office after…
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by Michael Bastasch Thousands of students will skip school Friday over global warming as part of an international movement backed by adult activists and based on a misreading of the latest United Nations climate report. In the U.S., strikers are calling “for the Green New Deal, for a fair and just transition to a 100% renewable economy, and for ending the creation of additional fossil fuel infrastructure,” according to the Youth Climate Strike website. Young activists say “inaction has left us with just 11 years to change the trajectory of the worst effects of climate change.” Isra Hirsi, the teenage daughter of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, is one of the protest leaders. Her mother joined the planned strike for Washington, D.C.and tweeted in support of the climate protests, “We need to listen to the wisdom of our kids!” Monied environmental organizations are supporting the strikers, and The New York Times said “grown-ups should listen” to children protesters. So, what exactly are these children saying? “The rest of my life is literally on the line,” 17-year-old activist Feliquan Charlemagne told The Washington Post. “I’m going to have to grow up in this if we don’t take action and don’t turn…
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by Jason Hopkins Young students across the world plan to skip class on Friday, claiming that they will devote the day to protesting man-made climate change. Students from more than 70 countries will skip class on Friday, March 15 to demand that their governments take more action on addressing climate change, according to #FridaysForFuture, a youth-led movement that is behind the strike. Tens of thousands of students will reportedly take part in the event. “We will no longer accept this injustice. We demand justice for all past, current and future victims of the climate crisis, and so we are rising up,” read an open letter that the activists published on the Guardian, claiming they would be protesting on “every continent” on Friday. “Thousands of us have taken to the streets in the past weeks all around the world. Now we will make our voices heard.” 350.org, an international environmental group, is helping bolster the strike with its own promotional video. Activists are hoping to closely mirror the youth-led March For Our Lives protests in Washington, D.C., which took place nearly a year ago following the fatal Parkland, Florida school shooting, and spark more debate among lawmakers about the dangers…
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by Jarret Stepman Peddlers of the Green New Deal know that the only way for their radical agenda to become reality is if Americans buy into the wildest claims of climate extremists. It’s clear that some of the most enthusiastic supporters of this radical agenda are young people. This was on full display in the now viral video of a meeting between Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and a group of children from the Sunrise Movement. This is how @SenFeinstein reacted to children asking her to support the #GreenNewDeal resolution — with smugness + disrespect. This is a fight for our generation's survival. Her reaction is why young people desperately want new leadership in Congress. pic.twitter.com/0zAkaxruMI — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) February 22, 2019 Perhaps children and young Americans are more likely to buy into the extreme environmentalist doomsaying due to the fact that they weren’t around for the laughably wrong predictions of the past that never came true. Panics over looming environmental and climate apocalypse have been with us for a long time. Thomas Malthus famously predicted in his 1798 book “An Essay on the Principle of Population” that population growth would overtake food supply and mass starvation would…
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by Michael Bastach Former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich said that while the Green New Deal might not be the right answer to global warming, “it’s asking the right question.” “But for all those problems, the Green New Deal is serving an important purpose by provoking a more vigorous level of public debate,” Kasich wrote in a USA Today op-ed published Monday. “We’ve finally reached a tipping point.” The Green New Deal, introduced by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey in February, calls for sweeping changes that achieve “net-zero” emissions in 10 years. Some Democratic 2020 hopefuls endorse the bill, but many moderate Democrats are hesitant to embrace it on worries it’s not feasible to fundamentally transform society so quickly. Republicans oppose the bill’s massive government takeover of the economy. Kasich, who’s mulling a 2020 presidential run against President Donald Trump, wants moderates in both parties to come up with an alternative to the Green New Deal. “It’s time for free-market moderates on both sides of the aisle to come up with answers of their own,” Kasich wrote in his op-ed, embracing carbon pricing, fuel economy mandates and subsidies for electric vehicles. Kasich’s op-ed comes after the…
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by Michael Bastach Skeptics of global warming “catastrophe” have an extended an offer for Green New Deal champion New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to come and debate them. Retired statistics professor Dr. Caleb Rossiter offered a standing invitation for Ocasio-Cortez, and others who have attacked the CO2 Coalition, to come and debate climate science and energy policy. Taking a page from his early anti-war activism days, Rossiter put a piece of paper with Ocasio-Cortez’s name, and the names of other “alarmists,” on an empty chair next to panelists during a Friday panel at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Rossiter said anti-war activists would have empty chairs at events reserved for Defense Department officials who, though invited, would never show up. Ocasio-Cortez and Maine Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree recently went after big tech companies for sponsoring an event at LibertyCon, a conference put on by a libertarian student group, at which the CO2 Coalition also sponsored an event. Ocasio-Cortez and Pingree said tech companies’ “implicit” support for the CO2 Coalition was “dangerous to our society” because it allegedly spread misinformation about climate science. However, NASA attributes much of the observed “global greening” in the past 30 years to elevated CO2 levels. Rossiter,…
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by Michael Bastasch Democratic Washington Governor Jay Inslee has entered the 2020 presidential race as the candidate who has what it takes to unite Americans around one goal: fighting climate change. But while Inslee pushes for a Green New Deal-like economic plan, the Democratic governor has failed to implement major climate policies in his own state. “His climate policy has failed with the legislature, failed with the courts and failed with the voters,” said Todd Myers, environmental policy director at the free-market Washington Policy Center. “There’s not a single metric where Washington state is going the right direction on climate change,” Myers told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. Inslee launched his presidential campaign Friday with a video making clear that fighting climate change would be the central focus of his campaign, though he’s also come out for abolishing the Senate filibuster and statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico. “So [climate change] can’t be on a laundry list,” Inslee told Vox in an interview published Friday. “It can’t be something that candidates check the box on. It has to be a full-blooded effort to mobilize the United States in all capacities.” To that end, Inslee’s campaign website…
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by Michael Bastasch Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will seek the presidential nomination in 2020, adding to the growing field of Democrats seeking to challenge President Donald Trump. “We’re the first generation to feel the sting of climate change. And we’re the last who can do something about it. We went to the moon and created technologies that have changed the world. Our country’s next mission must be to rise up to the most urgent challenge of our time — defeating climate change,” Inslee said in a video Friday announcing the run. “I’m running for president because I am the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation’s number one priority.” Inslee plans on making global warming the central issue of his campaign. The so-called “climate candidate” recently said “we’ve never had a president who’s said this is the number one priority of my administration.” “We have one administration left … to restrain this monster,” Inslee told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Monday. “When your house is on fire, you go grab the bucket and you fight the fire, even though your lawn needs mowing and you haven’t answered the mail. That’s the situation we’re in. This is a…
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by Chris White A Maine lawmaker is pulling his bill imposing a carbon tax on citizens as the state sought to be the first to adopt one of the key pillars of the Democratic Party. State Rep. Deane Rykerson, a Democrat from Kittery, Maine, announced Thursday that he is pulling a bill imposing the nation’s first statewide carbon tax. He intends instead on creating a “Carbon Pricing Study Group” that will explore the tax and recommend solutions. State Republicans are cheering the decision. “This is a middle- and low-income family crushing tax,” Nick Isgro, mayor of Waterville, told reporters Thursday, adding in a subsequent tweet to his followers that “the sponsor [Rykerson] now wants the tax bill replaced with a study. Thank you all…WIN!” Maine’s decision to ding the proposal comes amid a similarly crushing defeat in the state of Washington. Washington voters rejected two ballot measures imposing a carbon tax, one of which was designed to be revenue neutral. Initiative 1631 was the third attempt to impose a carbon tax in Washington state. Voters rejected a similar ballot measure in 2016, and carbon tax legislation failed earlier in 2018. Supporters of Washington’s November 2018 proposal pumped more than…
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by Tim Pearce The Trump administration is enlisting government scientists to serve on a climate advisory panel that will reassess the risks of climate change, senior administration officials told The Washington Post. Top administration officials, including President Donald Trump and acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, discussed assembling a team of hand-picked federal scientists to review risks of climate change. The committee would provide evidence downplaying or contradicting alarmist views on climate change, such as is outlined in the Green New Deal championed by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The committee may also challenge findings in recent government reports such as the National Climate Assessment (NCA) released in November and used by Democrats to push for climate action. “The president wants people to be able to decide for themselves,” one official told WaPo. Discussions focused on creating a panel under the National Security Council that would not be subject to the regulations outlined in the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The act says official advisory committees must meet in public and are subject to open records laws. “I never thought I would live to see the day in the United States where our own White House is attacking the very science agencies that can help the president…
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Several youth activism organizations gathered at the Minnesota Capitol Monday to protest the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline and call for a “Minnesota Green New Deal.” “We are changing the political landscape in Minnesota and although there is much more work to be done, we are so proud of what we have done. Youth voices matter, and we will continue to make that very clear to our state leaders this session,” a group called “Minnesota Can’t Wait” said in a statement. Video from Monday’s demonstration shows dozens of youth activists gathered in the State Capitol, holding signs that say, “We elected you, meet with us,” and “Minnesota Green New Deal.” “Even though they are not here right now, we’re going to make sure that they hear our message and that they hear our words, because they have to listen to us as public servants serving the state of Minnesota,” one speaker said during the event, referring to Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan (D-MN). The following morning, Walz announced that he would refile an appeal against the Enbridge Line 3 replacement project, as The Minnesota Sun reported. “We are extremely glad that the governor has acknowledged the importance…
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Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) announced Tuesday morning that he would refile an appeal against the controversial Enbridge Line 3 replacement project. Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) unanimously approved of granting Enbridge a certificate of need to move forward with the project last summer. But former Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) made a last-minute appeal of the project through his Department of Commerce before leaving office. Dayton’s appeal was dismissed by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on February 5 because the court found that his petition was made “prematurely.” That decision granted Walz 20 days to decide between refiling the appeal or allowing the project to move forward. On Tuesday, Walz announced that he would follow his predecessor in petitioning the project. “Today, [Department of Commerce] will petition the PUC to reconsider its decision on the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Replacement Project, continuing a process begun by the Dayton administration,” Walz said in a statement. “Projects that impact our environment and economy must follow the process, the law, and the science.” Walz went on to say that projects “like these don’t just need a building permit to go forward, they also need a social permit.” “Over the past month, my administration has…
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Two of Minnesota’s most prominent politicians, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), are backing the controversial Green New Deal, but Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is conspicuously missing from the list of House sponsors. The House version of the resolution currently has 67 co-sponsors, including McCollum, who has received $52,733 in campaign contributions from environmental groups over the course of her career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Klobuchar, who is expected to declare candidacy for president Sunday, is one of 10 co-sponsors of the Senate resolution, which has the backing of other presidential hopefuls, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ). The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that Klobuchar has received $220,463 from environmental groups throughout her career. Omar is a public ally of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), the resolution’s chief author, and was an early advocate of the Green New Deal. Omar, however, currently isn’t listed as a co-sponsor of the resolution. She addressed her support of the Green New Deal in a statement Thursday, but seemed to take issue with the fact that it is just a resolution rather than actual legislation. “We need to…
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