A study from Harvard University linking pollution to coronavirus deaths has reinvigorated Democrats to attack the Trump administration’s environmental policies as per usual, but it has not been peer-reviewed yet, and the authors recently had to amend their conclusions to admit that there was a weaker association between deaths from coronavirus deaths and long-term soot exposure than they had posited earlier. The EPA pointed out that the study has not been peer-reviewed as yet.
Nevertheless, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/07/the-energy-202-a-harvard-study-tying-coronavirus-death-rates-to-pollution-is-causing-an-uproar-in-washington/5eb2eb6588e0fa42c41b3ba1/">The Washington Post</a> reports, Democratic politicians are using the findings of the study to harass the Trump administration. Former New York mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg cowrote an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-04/how-trump-s-epa-is-making-covid-19-more-deadly">op-ed this week</a> with former EPA chief Gina McCarthy in which they cited the Harvard study, then stated, “Scientists are warning us that air pollution makes Covid-19, which strikes at the lungs, more deadly. Nonetheless, in the space of about a month, the president has repeatedly undermined rules limiting air pollution. Tens of thousands of Americans will die as a result … Despite this danger, the Trump administration has launched a series of attempts to make our air dirtier and harder to breathe.”
18 Senate Democrats cited the Harvard research in a <a href="https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/9/7/973e3f2f-2477-46d0-ba54-6afa9100d725/76E71BED1CB67BE1B3CBF8D5D137E08D.airpollutionletter-to-epa-4.14.2020-pdf-final.pdf">letter</a> on April 14 to administrator Andrew Wheeler, writing:
<blockquote>A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests a link between more air pollution and higher mortality among COVID-19 patients. Yet despite this ongoing public health emergency, the EPA has taken steps in recent weeks that will increase air pollution, including rolling back auto emissions standards. Today, EPA announced its decision to maintain current national ambient air quality standards that EPA’s own scientists say fail to protect public health – and that research links with higher COVID-19 mortality. The Environmental Protection Agency should be taking actions that will further protect health during this crisis, not put more Americans at risk.</blockquote>
But Louis Anthony Cox, a consultant and member of the Environmental Protection Agency&#8217;s Science Advisory Board, fired back at the idea of citing the study, arguing,  “This is not a model that is ready for prime time,” adding, “This is bad science dressed up as policy-relevant science.” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/powerup/2020/04/22/powerup-on-50th-anniversary-of-earth-day-epa-head-says-climate-change-not-the-only-environmental-issue-that-we-face-as-a-planet/5e9f297e88e0fa101a7686bd/">stated bluntly</a>, “I think it&#8217;s premature to put too much weight on a study that hasn&#8217;t been finalized or peer reviewed yet.&#8221;
The EPA stated, “Drawing conclusions from a study without peer review and with insufficient data is irresponsible and paints a distorted scientific picture.”
One of the authors of the study, Francesca Dominici, agreed that the results of the study had limitations but insisted that other research teams had reached similar conclusions, saying, “Big policy regulation should be guided by consensus evidenceand the consensus evidence is out there in terms of how harmful” soot is.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Harvard Assesses Its Role In Innovation Economy

Harvard Study Says Pollution Affects Coronavirus. Democrats Pounce.

Coronavirus

Democrats

Environmentalism

Harvard

On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day — something of an ecological feast day — journalistic, philanthropic and religious leaders echoed the spirit of the original celebration: The human race is a cancer on the planet. In the sternly reinforced quiet of stay-at-home orders, this Team Earth reveled in how the world is such a better, cleaner, calmer place when most humans can&#8217;t commute or commit tourism.
CBS reporter John Blackstone found a silver lining in the pandemic, saying, &#8220;From goats in a deserted town in Wales to lions lounging on a road in South Africa, nature seems to be saying, &#8216;We can get along fine without you.'&#8221; Michael Brune of the Sierra Club added, &#8220;We all need nature a lot more than nature needs us.&#8221;
It&#8217;s not hard to imagine that ecologists would root for the coronavirus pandemic to reduce the tide of human ruination of nature. Perhaps the coronavirus hasn&#8217;t been brutal enough for them. In his 1968 bestseller, &#8220;The Population Bomb,&#8221; Paul Ehrlich channeled the approaching spirit of Earth Day as he openly discussed how India should have been denied food aid because the population reproduced too irresponsibly.
In The New York Times in 1971, Catholic writer L. Brent Bozell Jr. imagined a starving boy in Bombay bedeviling the global intelligentsia, writing: &#8220;There is a greater supply of him than there is demand. He disturbs the ecological balance. He is socially inconvenient. The demographic mind eyes him and observes it would be better had his father been sterilized, or his mother aborted him — or, better still, had he never been conceived.&#8221;
In reality, human expertise prevented Ehrlich&#8217;s apocalyptic vision of &#8220;massive die-backs&#8221; from famine in India, and everywhere. The ecological gospel has shifted emphasis from overpopulation to climate change, but the left continues to harp on the suicidal idiocy of the undereducated majority of the human race. Today, those supposed rubes are pressing to open up the lockdown.
It&#8217;s a little surprising that the negative spirit of Earth Day is channeled by Pope Francis, who has been citing an old Spanish saying (as translated to English): &#8220;God always forgives. We humans sometimes forgive, and sometimes not. The Earth never forgives.&#8221; This is a strange bucket of logic. Nature recovers from oil spills and forest fires, with or without human help. The pope suggested the coronavirus could be &#8220;the Earth&#8217;s response to our maltreatment,&#8221; as if the virus were a supreme being.
He sounds like Michael Moore, who&#8217;s insisting, &#8220;Mother Nature has put us in its time-out room right now — literally, not just figuratively.&#8221;
Catholics around the world are taught the pope is infallible in matters of faith and morals. But this pope&#8217;s ecological reasoning can be questioned. Stewardship of God&#8217;s creation is absolutely imperative for the faithful but not at the expense of God&#8217;s most precious creation, made in His own image to share in His eternal home.
In his 2010 World Day of Peace message, Pope Benedict XVI struck a more charitable tone regarding humanity&#8217;s place on the planet. Faced with the debate over pollution, deforestation and climate change, he said mankind should renew and strengthen &#8220;that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.&#8221;
Many of us feel impatient to return to the energetic swirl of commuting and vacationing and shopping and watching sports and getting decent haircuts — just as soon as it doesn&#8217;t sound ominous. In the meantime, we should worry about people who celebrate a silver lining of pristine air and water due to the coronavirus &#8220;die-back.&#8221;
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Earth protesters

GRAHAM: Earth Day Dunking On Humans

Climate Change

Earth Day

Pope Francis

CNN reporter Bill Weir joined the chorus of environmental activists claiming that coronavirus has had a positive impact on climate change, suggesting that the temporary lockdown has &#8220;helped humanity&#8221; buy time to address the effects of global warming.
Like many environmentalists, it appears Weir is looking on the bright side of coronavirus-related lockdowns, which have had an economic impact on an estimated 43% of Americans and left at least 26 million out of work, according to the latest numbers from the Department of Labor, issued Thursday.
Weir also appears to claim the virus comes as the result of increased deforestation in his Earth Day CNN segment.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
CNN’s <a href="https://twitter.com/BillWeirCNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BillWeirCNN</a> says Coronavirus “has helped humanity buy some time against global warming”; claims the virus came from too much deforestation <a href="https://t.co/gfmYcgKrOr">pic.twitter.com/gfmYcgKrOr</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1253294997748752385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There are, of course, competing theories as to how the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 became a national pandemic, but most center on events in Wuhan, China, and focus on either the consumption of endangered species, like the pangolin, or the possibility that the virus &#8220;escaped&#8221; from a research lab that was investigating a number of coronaviruses without taking proper precaution.
The coronavirus has had an impact on pollution, as many outlets noted in their Earth Day coverage Wednesday.
&#8220;Researchers from IQAir &#8212; a global air quality information and tech company &#8212; studied 10 major cities around the world which have relatively high numbers of coronavirus cases and Covid-19 lockdown measures,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/world/air-pollution-reduction-cities-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html">CNN reported</a>. &#8220;Seven out of the 10 cities studied, including New Delhi, Seoul, Wuhan and Mumbai, saw significant improvements in air quality. Those with historically higher levels of PM2.5 pollution witnessed the most substantial drops in pollution.&#8221;
Even American supporters of the Green New Deal gleefully pointed out that there are clear measures that can be taken to reduce the effects of consuming fossil fuels, as evidenced by the impact coronavirus lockdowns are having on pollution levels. Former Secretary of State-turned-climate activist John Kerry even tried to compare the two in an <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/covid-19-and-climate-change-the-parallels-are-screaming-at-us-says-john-kerry-2020-04-22">Earth Day interview</a>.
But most seem reticent to consider the wider impact of such a theory. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has infected nearly three million people worldwide and killed more than 100,000. In the United States alone, the virus has infected more than 800,000 people and killed more than 40,000 in just a two-month span.
The economic toll is far worse. The United States is certainly seeing an environmental impact from the disease &#8212; an impact that could, in the weeks and months ahead, result in nearly 25% unemployment, a number that may plunge us into an economic depression &#8212; but the world is suffering as well.
According to global experts, the coronavirus pandemic could lead to &#8220;vast food shortages,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/africa/coronavirus-famine-un-warning-intl/index.html">per CNN</a> (the same network that aired the segment embracing coronavirus&#8217; contribution to climate change), and could push &#8220;130 million people to the brink of starvation&#8221; in a series of famines affecting at least 55 countries, many in Asia and Africa. The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51706225">BBC adds</a> that coronavirus-related lockdowns have stalled industrial production, especially in China.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">subscriber</a>.

Smoke from a chimney

CNN Reporter Claims Coronavirus Has ‘Helped Humanity’ Buy Time To Address Global Warming

On Thursday, former Secretary of State John Kerry pontificated that The Trump administration will “kill more Americans” because of their actions vis-à-vis environmental regulations. Kerry intoned, “The insidiousness of the Trump administration using the coronavirus moment as cover — where people are highly preoccupied with health and safety and their lives — and they’re attacking these rules, which will actually kill more Americans, make more people sick, you can’t dream that kind of thing up.”
Interviewed on <a href="https://www.acast.com/skullduggery">Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast</a>, Kerry referenced the Trump administration’s decision to create a new method of estimating the costs and benefits of restricting mercury pollution.
Kerry said, “It’s a tragedy. It’s stupid. It’s absolutely counterproductive. There are reasons that those rules are put in place because mercury kills people. Because these pollutants kill people … Rachel Carson in the 1960s was fighting to protect people from DDT …”
Kerry described Carson’s fight to stop the spraying of DDT, but he did not mention that when the spraying of DDT stopped, millions more people died from malaria. Even the leftist <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-rachel-carson-cost-millions-of-people-their-lives">Daily Beast</a>admitted:
<blockquote>… her crusade against one pesticide cost millions of people their lives …Although DDT soon became synonymous with poison, the pesticide was an effective weapon in the fight against an infection that has killed—and continues to kill—more people than any other: malaria. By 1960, due largely to DDT, malaria had been eliminated from eleven countries, including the United States. As malaria rates went down, life expectancies went up; as did crop production, land values, and relative wealth … Since the mid 1970s, when DDT was eliminated from global eradication efforts, tens of millions of people have died from malaria unnecessarily: most have been children less than five years old.</blockquote>
Kerry continued, “The bottom line is the weakening of these regulations is now rampant, and the insidiousness of the Trump administration using the coronavirus moment as cover — where people are highly preoccupied with health and safety and their lives — and they’re attacking these rules, which will actually kill more Americans, make more people sick, you can’t dream that kind of thing up. George Orwell never conceived of quite such a topsy-turvy situation. And I don’t think anybody’s ever dreamt we’d have a president who’s quite such an enemy of common sense and facts and science.”
Kerry stated:
<blockquote>We’ve had 25 years of people doubting science, claiming on an ideological basis, we don’t have to move; we don’t have to do things; and proposing to Americans a completely contrived, artificial choice. They say, “If we do what the people who want to solve climate want to do it’s gonna hurt our economy; it’s gonna hurt your jobs; it’s gonna take away your quality of life.&#8221; That’s a lie. That’s a complete and total fabrication of the choice that we face.
Well, it’s no secret anywhere in the international community  that the United States has lost ground, serious ground, over the course of these last years of the administration. Pulling out of the TPP … the president has attacked NATO, criticized our friends … and sided with dictators across the world … I heard countless conversations in which  people wondered why the United States has pulled back …</blockquote>
Kerry attacked the Trump administration’s intent to pull funding from the World Health Organization:
<blockquote>You take something like the World Health Organization, I wouldn’t say our Congress is working very effectively. There are a whole bunch of institutions here that aren’t working effectively. And so don’t be surprised that you find a hiccup here or there in some international institution. But the World Health Institution (sic), this is the moment that they need to be strengthened; this is the moment they need to be fully funded and even plussed up in terms of their budget.
And when the president pulls out support for the WHO, he’s not just hurting them immediately in terms of their budget for something he didn’t need to do, by the way, they would fix the things that need to be fixed. He is hurting us, because the World Health Organization is critical to managing the health crises of the world. And if you don’t want the next pandemic to hurt us, the last thing you ought to do is be defunding the World Health Organization.</blockquote>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

COP25 Climate Summit Enters Second Week

John Kerry: Trump Administration ‘Using The Coronavirus Moment As Cover,’ Will ‘Kill More Americans’ With Regulation Change

John Kerry

Trump Administration

Filmmaker Spike Lee has his own take on the COVID-19 pandemic, in that it may have been the earth lashing out in anger at humanity for our pollution of it.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s “The Joe Madison Show,” the &#8220;Do the Right Thing&#8221; director said that one of the pandemic&#8217;s benefits is the clearing up of pollution.
“Before Corona, after Corona, this is changing everything,” Lee said. “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. People may think I’m crazy that I believe it in my heart and soul, that we had gone too far and Earth said, ‘Hold up, we gotta change this.&#8217;”
“We were killing this planet,” Lee continued. “And this time that everything was shut down, the Earth has come alive. Water is clear. … And the other day I read in The New York Times, LA had the clearest air in the world. Los Angeles! There was one day last week they had the cleanest air in the world, LA.”
Though Lee has been under self-quarantine in Brooklyn, he said that he does not know how much longer he can take the self-isolation.
“I know I can’t stay in long, but I made a movie called ‘Do the Right Thing,&#8217;” Lee said. “On the hottest day in the summer, and I prayed to the almighty God this can’t be happening still in New York in July and August. I’m telling you. Eight and a half people, eight and a half million and we’re still inside in July and August. Oh my God. I don’t know how that’s going to work.”
Spike Lee has been making the headlines for a variety of reasons these past months, usually for outlandish left-wing statement no different than what he said about COVID-19. In an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9NWfxuHQuT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">Instagram post</a> in March, the director shared a photo of several of Trump’s supporters in the black community, including YouTube stars Diamond &amp; Silk, praying over him in the Oval Office. Employing deeply racist language recalling that of a submissive southern house slave, Spike Lee wrote, “Massa, We Love You, Massa. We Gonna Pray Fo’ You Massa. Singing- ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.&#8217;”
Spike Lee’s post came during the same week in which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/on-air-tantrum-spike-lee-goes-on-espn-to-complain-he-cant-use-employee-entrance-is-being-harassed-knicks-rip-him-apart-in-statement">he had a public meltdown</a> for not being allowed to enter the employee entrance at Madison Square Garden in New York City with his VIP Access pass, prompting a public rebuke from the New York Knicks.
“The idea that Spike Lee is a victim because we have repeatedly asked him to not use our employee entrance and instead use a dedicated VIP entrance — which is used by every other celebrity who enters The Garden — is laughable,” the Knicks said in a statement. “It’s disappointing that Spike would create this false controversy to perpetuate drama. He is welcome to come to The Garden anytime via the VIP or general entrance; just not through our employee entrance, which is what he and Jim agreed to last night when they shook hands.”
Earlier this year, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-spike-lee-tells-al-sharpton-senators-will-burn-in-hell-for-acquitting-trump">Spike Lee said</a> that Republican Senators who helped to acquit President Trump during the impeachment trial will “burn in hell” if they swore on the Holy Bible.
“I wouldn’t want to be standing [next] to none of those guys because they’re gonna be struck by lightning,” Lee said.  “History will say they were on the wrong side of history. The wrong side, the wrong side. So everybody — here’s the thing. I’m not speaking for anybody but myself. This is me speaking, everybody. Whoever comes out of the Democratic convention I’m voting for, because we cannot have another four years of Agent Orange.”

92nd Annual Academy Awards &#8211; Backstage

Spike Lee On COVID-19: ‘Earth Was Angry At Us’

COVID-19

Hollywood

Spike Lee

A statement widely attributed to the great British thinker G. K. Chesterton describes the modern period as perfectly as any single idea can: &#8220;When people stop believing in God, they don&#8217;t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.&#8221;
One of these substitute gods has been nature.
Indeed, of all the false gods, nature is probably the most natural for people to worship. Every religion prior to the Bible had nature-gods — the sun, the moon, the sea, gods of fertility, gods of rain and so on.
That is why the farther Western society gets from biblical, i.e., Judeo-Christian, religions, the more nature is worshipped.
Everyone on the left and right cares about the environment. But caring about the environment is not the same as environmentalism. Environmentalism, for most of its adherents, is a secular religion. These people, many of whom refer to, and truly regard, the Earth as a goddess (Gaia, the name of the ancient Greek Earth goddess) worship the environment.
The man who, more than any other, started the modern environmentalist religion was James Lovelock, who developed the &#8220;Gaia hypothesis&#8221; in the 1970s. Almost 50 years later, in 2014, Lovelock told The Guardian, &#8220;Environmentalism has become a religion.&#8221;
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat described the 2009 James Cameron blockbuster film, &#8220;Avatar,&#8221; as &#8220;Cameron&#8217;s long apologia for pantheism, a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.&#8221; That equation of God with nature was a major reason for the film&#8217;s popularity.
Douthat, one of the only religious (as in believing in and practicing a religion) columnists at The New York Times, added, &#8220;The threat of global warming, meanwhile, has lent the cult of Nature qualities that every successful religion needs: a crusading spirit, a rigorous set of &#8216;thou shalt nots,&#8217; and a piping-hot apocalypse.&#8221;
When you ask atheists, as I have for decades, what they believe in, the most common answer is &#8220;science.&#8221; There was a young man, an atheist, at the gym where I work out, who responded, &#8220;Science!&#8221; (in place of &#8220;God bless you&#8221;) whenever someone sneezed. There is nothing higher than science for an atheist because the natural world is all there is. So, worship of the Earth, the environment or nature is almost inevitable in a secular world.
The Bible takes an entirely different view. As explained at length in my Bible commentary, &#8220;The Rational Bible,&#8221; the first verse of the Bible — &#8220;In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth&#8221; — contains the most radical idea in history. It stated, for the first time in history, that God created nature and is not part of nature. It is one of the reasons I believe the first five books, the Torah, are God-given. No human beings 3,000 years ago in the late Bronze Age would have come up with an idea so opposed to the way the human mind naturally works — to regard gods as part of nature.
From the point of view of the secular, Gaia-worshipping world, Genesis gets even worse when, 27 verses later, God tells human beings to, &#8220;Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.&#8221;
Both instructions infuriate Earth-worshippers. Regarding being fruitful, they oppose people having more than one child, and many advocate having no children so as to have minimal human impact on Mother Earth. But the second part — ruling over nature — is what really angers them.
Maybe the coronavirus will awaken young people, who have been taught by nature-worshipping teachers and raised by nature-worshipping parents, to the idiocy of worshipping nature rather than subduing it. Nature, it turns out, is not our friend, let alone a god. If it were up to nature, we&#8217;d all be dead: Animals would eat us; weather would freeze us to death; disease would wipe out the rest of us. If we don&#8217;t subdue nature, nature will subdue us. It&#8217;s that simple.
Nature is beautiful and awe-inspiring. It&#8217;s also brutal and merciless. &#8220;Nature, red in tooth and claw,&#8221; as Alfred Tennyson aptly describes it. Nature follows no moral rules and shows no compassion. The basic law of all biological life is &#8220;survival of the fittest,&#8221; while the basic law of Judaism and Christianity is the opposite: the survival of the weakest with the help of the fittest. Nature wants the weakest eaten by the strongest. Hospitals are as anti-natural an entity as exists.
Only human beings make hospitals. We do so not by worshipping nature but by subduing it.
If the COVID-19 virus destroys the foolish veneration of nature and leads more people, especially the young, to a new respect for the Judeo-Christian worldview, it might be the one silver lining in this catastrophe.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is &#8220;The Rational Bible,&#8221; a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, &#8220;No Safe Spaces,&#8221; came to theaters fall 2019. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.

Thunderstorm

PRAGER: Maybe Nature Shouldn’t Be Worshipped After All

Judeo-Christian Values

Nature

While the economy-crushing coronavirus shutdowns are wreaking havoc in just about every industry, the plastic industry is seeing, at least temporarily, one &#8220;win&#8221;: A growing number of liberal cities and states that have imposed bans or fees on single-use plastic bags are reversing their policies amid concerns about the health risks posed by reusable bags.
&#8220;In the latest sign of how dramatically the coronavirus pandemic is altering the social landscape, even the liberal San Francisco Bay Area this week banned reusable grocery bags as a sanitary measure, dismaying recycling advocates who say durable sacks should still be allowed at stores,&#8221; <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/04/01/its-come-to-this-liberal-san-francisco-bay-area-bans-reusable-grocery-bags-1270319">Politico</a> reported earlier this week.
The famously radical-left city&#8217;s Department of Public Health announced the temporary reversal of its 2007 plastic bag ban on Tuesday as part of an update to its coronavirus &#8220;stay-at-home&#8221; order. The new ordinance restricts customers from bringing into stores their own reusable items, like bags and mugs.
As usual, San Francisco is leading the way in terms of severity of  its ban effort, imposing what Politico&#8217;s Debra Kahn describes as &#8220;the most stringent coronavirus-related restriction placed on reusable bags in California.&#8221;
&#8220;[F]aced with the realities of the coronavirus, the city’s leaders have realized that excessive environmentalism isn’t always compatible with the realities of the world we live in today,&#8221; Hot Air&#8217;s <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/04/03/plastic-bag-bans-completely-reversed/">Jazz Shaw</a> writes. &#8220;As such, the ban has been not only lifted but reversed. Reusable bags are now banned in the City by the Bay.&#8221;
In other words, the city that once led the nation in reusable bag enforcement is now one of the first to officially ban them.
And, as Shaw notes, San Francisco isn&#8217;t the only progressive city reversing course on the plastic bag ban &#8212; &#8220;Maine, New York and Massachusetts have all either suspended their plastic bag bans or halted enforcement of the regulations,&#8221; he writes.
Meanwhile, as reported by Politico, the plastic industry is pushing hard for their cause across the country, lobbying on the federal level as well as some key states, including New York and New Jersey, &#8220;asserting that often-unwashed reusable bags are hotbeds for the coronavirus, which early research suggests can remain on surfaces.&#8221;
Along with the plastic ban reversal in San Francisco, other &#8220;environmentally-friendly&#8221; efforts have been abandoned by the general populace, with people rushing out to their local grocery stores to buy up all of the bottled water, while companies impose their own bans on reusable items, including Starbucks and Coffee Bean.
Environmentalists are trying to push back, but so far to no avail. Kahn cites Californians Against Waste Executive Director Mark Murray chiding the &#8220;misguided&#8221; anti-reusable bag movement, but also expressing some sympathy. &#8220;This fear of bringing reusable bags into the stores is misguided, but I certainly understand why store employees don&#8217;t want to handle somebody else&#8217;s things,&#8221; said Murray. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t have any expectation that somebody is going to put my groceries into my bag that I brought from home.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-you-cant-rely-on-the-models-too-many-variables">Experts Question WH Coronavirus Projections; Fauci: ‘You Can’t Rely On The Models,’ Too Many Variables</a>

Target Bags

Liberal Cities Reverse Plastic Bag Bans, Ban Reusable Bags; Plastic Industry Lobbies For More

San Francisco

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be handling his own coronavirus pandemic, but he&#8217;s still committed to pursuing radical environmental policies and ingratiating himself to the global environmental elite.
Saturday night, while most Canadians sheltered at home, under &#8220;social distancing&#8221; order designed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, Trudeau suggested on social media that those sheltering in place turn off their electricity to save the planet.
&#8220;You’re already at home tonight, so why not unplug for <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EarthHour?src=hash" rel="tag" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#EarthHour</a> at 8:30PM local time? Whatever you do tonight, <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayAtHomeAndStaySafe?src=hash" rel="tag" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#StayAtHomeAndStaySafe,</a>&#8221; Trudeau tweeted.
His plan met with swift and crushing criticism on social media, as Twitter users pointed out how necessary fossil fuels have become in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
&#8220;Turning off the ventilators to save the planet,&#8221; one user mocked.
&#8220;Unplugging my ventilator for <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EarthHour?src=hash" rel="tag" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag">#EarthHour</a>, thank you Justin,&#8221; chortled another.
Still others suggested that pressing environmental polices that could have a dramatic, negative impact on the Canadian economy was a bit of a misfire during a time where more than 500,000 Canadians are out of work. A few even reminded Trudeau that he just wrote a $2.65 billion check to help &#8220;developing countries&#8221; fight climate change &#8212; money that a suffering Canada could use to help bolster its own flagging economy.
That&#8217;s not Trudeau&#8217;s only issue, though. While a tasteless, ill-timed social media post is probably bad enough for most Canadians worried about whether their government is taking an active role in handling the growing pandemic, Trudeau is pairing his &#8220;Earth Hour&#8221; commitment to a massive, 50% carbon tax hike designed to punish businesses that consume too much carbon &#8212; and that tax is set to go into effect in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown.
<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6741773/coronavirus-carbon-tax-increase/">Global News reports</a> that Trudeau has refused to say whether he&#8217;ll put at least a temporary hold on the hike, even as groups beg and plead with the government to halt their environmental crusade.
“The Canadian economy is facing a serious challenge. Adding a 50 per cent increase in the carbon tax is a further hit to grain farmers’ bottom line and Canadian consumers’ food bills. Now is not the time to be to be adding to our household expenses,” the head of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association said in a statement earlier this week.
In response, Trudeau actually defended the measure, saying it would hurt some Canadians upfront, but save money in the long run.
“We know that it is important that we put more money in the pockets of Canadians at this point when they’re stressed,” Trudeau told reporters. “Our plan on pricing pollution puts more money upfront into people’s pockets than they would pay with the new price on pollution. We’re going to continue to focus on putting more money in people’s pockets to support them right across the country.”
It&#8217;s not as if coronavirus hasn&#8217;t hit home for Trudeau &#8212; his wife tested positive for the deadly virus and was forced to quarantine. The PM announced on Saturday that she is now &#8220;symptom free&#8221; and has been for several days.

Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau Gets Crushed Online After Suggesting Canadians Turn Off Lights, TV For ‘Earth Hour’ Amid Coronavirus Quarantine

On Sunday, famed English actor Idris Elba told Oprah Winfrey on an episode of &#8220;Oprah Talks Covid-19&#8221; that earth has unleashed the China-originated novel coronavirus on humanity because we treat the environment poorly.
Elba and his wife Sabrina Dhowre have both tested positive for the virus.
&#8220;One of the upsides of this whole drama is that we are forced to think together as a race,&#8221; the actor told Winfrey, as reported by <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/coronavirus-idris-elba-oprah-interview-watch-test-sabrina-dhowre-positive-a9416606.html">The Independent</a>. &#8220;We really are, as a human race.&#8221;
&#8220;Our world has been taking a kicking,&#8221; the 47-year-old continued. &#8220;We have damaged our world, and it’s no surprise that our world is reacting to the human race. It&#8217;s no surprise that a virus has been created that is going to slow us down, and ultimately make us think differently about our world and ourselves.&#8221;
&#8220;For me, that’s a stand-out thing that’s very obvious. That, this is almost like the world’s cry out. Like: ‘Hey, hey, hey – you are kicking me and what you’re doing is not good, so I’ll get rid of you,'&#8221; Elba added. &#8220;As any organism would do, (the world) is trying to get rid of an infection, and maybe this is it for the world.&#8221;
Winfrey was in agreement that the virus is meant to teach humanity something.
&#8220;I think we all lose as human beings if we just think of this as a physical virus,&#8221; she told the actor. &#8220;I think it is exactly as you said, that it is here to teach us, show us something about ourselves, as individuals and also as a world of people. And this is the moment for our humanity to either rise or not.&#8221;
The &#8220;Luther&#8221; actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-actor-idris-elba-reveals-he-has-coronavirus-no-panic">announced</a> Monday that he had tested positive for COVID-91; days later it was announced that his wife, who stayed by his side in quarantine, also had the virus.
&#8220;This morning I tested positive for Covid 19,&#8221; Elba said via social media on Monday. &#8220;I feel ok, I have no symptoms so far but have been isolated since I found out about my possible exposure to the virus.&#8221;
&#8220;I didn’t have any symptoms,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;I got tested because I realized that I was exposed to someone who had also tested positive. I found out last Friday that they were tested positive. I quarantined myself and got a test immediately and got the results back today.&#8221;
&#8220;Look, this is serious. Now’s the time to really think about social distancing, washing your hands. Beyond that there are people out there who aren’t showing symptoms, and that can easily spread it,&#8221; continued the acclaimed actor. &#8220;So now’s a time to be real vigilant about washing your hands and keeping your distance, okay.&#8221;
&#8220;Transparency’s probably the best thing for this right now,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If you’re feeling ill or you feel like you should be tested or you’ve been exposed, then do something about it, all right — it’s really important.&#8221;
&#8220;Look, we live in a divided world right now, we can feel it — it’s been bullsh**,&#8221; Elba emphasized. &#8220;But now’s the time for solidarity, now’s the time to be thinking about each other. There are so many people whose lives have been affected — from those who have lost people they have loved, to those who don’t even have it and have lost their livelihoods. This is real.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/naked-madonna-posts-coronavirus-bathtub-message-covid-19-has-wonderful-side">Naked Madonna Posts Coronavirus Bathtub Message: COVID-19 Has ‘Wonderful’ Side</a>

Sabrina Dhowr and Idris Elba

Idris Elba: ‘Very Obvious’ Earth Unleashed Coronavirus On Us For Beating Up The Planet

Idris Elba

Oprah Winfrey

If you want to understand a human being or the human condition, what is the single most important question you should ask?
Most religious people would probably ask, &#8220;Do you believe in God?&#8221;
The most important question most secular people, especially progressives, could imagine asking is probably a policy question. Today it would be &#8220;Do you support Donald Trump?&#8221; Otherwise it might be &#8220;Do you support abortion rights?&#8221; or &#8220;Do you support gay marriage?&#8221;
As important as all of these questions are, in attempting to understand human beings, especially large groups of human beings — i.e., their society — the most important question to ask is &#8220;What in life gives you the most meaning?&#8221;
The answer does not explain everything, of course, but it explains the human condition better than any other question.
The reason is this: After food, the greatest human need and human desire is meaning. Even more so than the ability to reason or even to speak, this is the great divide between human and animal. We share all other needs with the higher animal species and share many needs with some of the lower animal species. Like them, we need food, shelter and companionship. But, while human beings seek and need meaning more than anything except food (and companionship — but for human beings, companionship usually provides some meaning, and sometimes enough), no animal needs or seeks meaning. As an aside, this is one of the reasons I believe in God, the Creator. There is no evolutionary explanation for the need for meaning. Meaning is not a biological need.
Given its unique importance, that is why what gives us meaning must be deemed the most important question.
The problem, however, is that just as the need for food has no inherent moral quality, the need for meaning has no inherent moral quality. Meaning can be found in evil just as it can be found in good. Nazism provided millions of Germans with as much meaning as helping the dying in Calcutta provided Mother Teresa. Slaughtering infidels gives radical Islamic terrorists as much meaning as feeding the poor gives those who work for the Salvation Army. Killing the &#8220;Christ-killer&#8221; Jews gave some medieval Christians as much meaning as saving Jews gave some European Christians during the Holocaust.
For most Americans until the last generation, the need for meaning was filled by family, religion, community and patriotism (i.e., love of America and belief in America as Abraham Lincoln put it: as &#8220;the last best hope of earth.&#8221;)
All, or nearly all, of those sources of meaning are being lost. In fact, the present generation of Americans has few or none of those meaning providers.
As regards family, Americans are marrying at a later age than ever before. Fewer Americans are marrying than ever before. And fewer are having children than ever before.
With regard to religion, more than a third of millennials — by far the largest percentage of any generation in American history — do not identify with any religion.
As for community, a vast number of Americans — of every age — have lost ties to any community. This is a major reason for the epidemic of loneliness that afflicts so many Americans (and so many others) at the present time. For example, The New York Times reported in 2018 that in Britain, &#8220;more than nine million people in the country often or always feel lonely, according to a 2017 report published by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness.&#8221; Then-Prime Minister Theresa May actually appointed a minister of loneliness.
And regarding America, what is there to believe in? For more than a generation, young Americans have been taught contempt for this country: Its past is essentially racist, genocidal and imperialist. So much for patriotism.
So, then, what is to give meaning to Americans who have lost all or most of the above? Something has to, because the need for meaning is as built in and as universal as the need for food.
The answer is self-evident: Whatever it is, it must provide meaning without being dependent on family, community, religion or patriotism.
And what is that? Leftism.
All of leftism (not liberalism, which affirms all the traditional meaning providers) consists of meaning providers that replace community, religion, America and even family (single women are a major, even dominant, demographic of the left).
For leftists, feminism, environmentalism, socialism and trans rights provide meaning. The life-filling meaning of leftism is most evident in the constant leftist use of the term &#8220;existential threat.&#8221; President Donald Trump &#8220;is posing an existential threat to America,&#8221; wrote leftist Frank Rich in the latest issue of New York Magazine. &#8220;Bloomberg, in Campaign Event, Calls Trump an &#8216;Existential Threat,'&#8221; ABC News headlined two months ago. A Mother Jones headline two weeks ago read, &#8220;Trump Is an &#8216;Existential&#8217; Threat: Ilana Glazer, Eric Holder, and 2020.&#8221; A ThinkProgress headline last July read, &#8220;The Existential Threat Trump Poses to the World Political Order Is a 2020 Campaign Issue.&#8221; The Sioux City Journal headlined last week, &#8220;Biden: Trump Represents &#8216;an Existential Threat to the Future of Our Country.'&#8221;
Fighting President Trump means fighting for the very existence of the world&#8217;s order and for democracy in America. What could possibly give those devoid of meaning more meaning than that?
Well, there is one other thing: fighting for the very existence of the world itself. That is the animating impulse of the left&#8217;s obsession with global warming. &#8220;(T)he world is going to end in 12 years if we don&#8217;t address climate change,&#8221; says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a recent CNN town hall that the &#8220;climate crisis&#8221; is an &#8220;existential threat to the planet.&#8221; There are as many assertions of fossil fuels posing an existential threat to Earth&#8217;s survival as there are leftists (and the many liberals who fear the left).
The proof that this alleged saving of democracy and the world from extinction are nothing more than left-wing meaning givers is this: The only communities who don&#8217;t believe this continue to possess all the traditional meaning givers. We don&#8217;t need the left&#8217;s substitutes.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is &#8220;The Rational Bible,&#8221; a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, &#8220;No Safe Spaces,&#8221; came to theaters fall 2019. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.

Street lights.

PRAGER: The Question That Explains Almost Everything

Leftism

Religion

Socialism

On Wednesday, the Trump administration approved a right-of-way permitting the $8 billion Keystone XL oil sands pipeline to be built across 46 miles of land controlled by the federal government, taking a giant step toward completing the full construction of the pipeline.
As the <a href="https://apnews.com/c43e33814ee71e770fdde0772d9213a9">Associated Press</a> noted, the 1,200 mile pipeline had already garnered the requisite permits from states and localities to be built, but until Wednesday the section in Montana controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been off-limits.
Casey Hammond, assistant secretary of the Interior Department, confirmed that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had signed off on the agreement.
The Keystone pipeline had already been built in June 2010 traveling over 2,100 miles from Hardisty, Alberta in Canada through Steele City, Nebraska to Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois and Patoka Oil Terminal just north of Patoka, Illinois. In 2011, the Keystone-Cushing extension (Phase II) was completed, running almost 300 miles Steele City to Cushing, Oklahoma. In January 2014, Phase III was completed, running roughly 500 miles from Cushing to  refineries in Port Arthur, Texas. In 2016, a lateral pipeline was added traveling to Houston, Texas.
The Keystone XL pipeline connects Hardisty to Steel City using the shorter route running through Montana and uses a larger diameter pipe, running through Baker, Montana.
The Senate passed a bill approving the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline in January 2015; the House followed suit in February 2015. President Obama <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-n311671">vetoed the bill</a> on February 24, 2015, stating that it &#8220;attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest.&#8221;
The Senate was unable to gain the requisite number of votes to override the veto by a two-thirds majority, with a 62–37 vote. In January 2017, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum to revive the Keystone XL pipeline; in March 2017 he signed a presidential permit to allowing it to be built.
But in November 2018, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris vacated the presidential permit. In March 2019 Trump revoked the prior permit and issued a <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/04/03/2019-06654/authorizing-transcanada-keystone-pipeline-lp-to-construct-connect-operate-and-maintain-pipeline">new permit</a> for the pipeline, writing, “I hereby grant permission, subject to the conditions herein set forth, to TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. … to construct, connect, operate, and maintain pipeline facilities at the international border of the United States and Canada at Phillips County, Montana, for the import of oil from Canada to the United States.”
Project sponsor TC Energy has stated it would like to begin construction on the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Montana in April. Environmentalists and Native Americans have protested the Keystone XL pipeline with a number of lawsuits; Steve Volker, representing the Indigenous Environmental Network, stated, “We have every confidence that the federal courts will set aside these approvals.”
Phillips County, Montana, county commissioner John Carnahan, aware that the pipeline will bring the county tax revenue of $1 million annually, stated, “It’s a no-brainer for us as far as how the community feels. We’d go out there and help them if we could. It’s not only good for the county, it’s good for America.”
&nbsp;

President Trump Signs Executive Order In The Oval Office

Trump Administration Approves Big Step Toward Completing Keystone XL Pipeline

Donald Trump

keys

While speaking at a climate change rally on Friday, award-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix targeted the meat and dairy industries for being &#8220;the third leading cause of climate change.&#8221;
Standing alongside controversial activist and actress Jane Fonda, who organized the event, Phoenix took to the mic to blast the industries while nonetheless admitting his role in an expanding carbon footprint. For example, Phoenix had to fly a plane to the rally, something the actor suggested was out of his control.
&#8220;Something, I think, isn&#8217;t often times talked about in the environmental movement, or the conversation about climate change, is that the meat and dairy industry is the third leading cause of climate change,&#8221; started the &#8220;Joker&#8221; actor, fresh off his Golden Globes win.
&#8220;And, um, I think sometimes we think, what can we do in this fight against climate change, and there&#8217;s something that you can do today, right now, and tomorrow by making a choice what you consume,&#8221; he continued.
&#8220;I struggle so much with what I can do at times,&#8221; Phoenix added. &#8220;There are things that I can&#8217;t avoid — I flew a plane out here today, or last night, rather. But one thing that I can do is change my eating habits.&#8221;
&#8220;So I just wanna urge all of you to join me in that,&#8221; closed the actor.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Joaquin Phoenix: &quot;I struggle so much with what I can do [to combat climate change] at times. There are things that I can&#39;t avoid &#8212; I flew a plane out here today, or last night rather. But one thing that I can do is change my eating habits.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/RaZILYq0La">pic.twitter.com/RaZILYq0La</a>
&mdash; The Hill (@thehill) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1215685904687300609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
During his Golden Globes award acceptance speech on Sunday, Phoenix also zeroed in on climate change, taking a jab at Hollywood for its collective hypocrisy on the issue.
“It’s really nice that so many people come up and sent their well wishes, but we have to do more than that, right?” Phoenix said, referring to the fires in Australia. “I have not always been a virtuous man. I’m learning so much — so many of you in this room have given me multiple opportunities to get it right.”
As reported by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/update-dozens-more-arrested-in-australia-for-deliberately-setting-wildfires">The Daily Wire</a> earlier this week, dozens of alleged arsonists have been arrested in connection to the raging fires in Australia, reportedly setting at least 100 fires.
“It’s great to vote but sometimes we have to take that responsibility on ourselves and make changes and sacrifices in our own lives,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;I hope that we can do that — we don’t have to take private jets to Palm Springs sometimes or back, please.&#8221;
“I’ll try to do better and I hope you will too,&#8221; he added.
Earlier in the speech, as noted by <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/joaquin-phoenix-golden-globes-speech-joker-1203456066/">Variety</a>, Phoenix &#8220;lauded the Globes for switching to a vegan meal for the ceremony, thanking the Hollywood Foreign Press for &#8216;recognizing and acknowledging the link between animal agriculture and climate change. It’s a very bold move, making tonight plant-based.'&#8221;
Phoenix&#8217;s stand against meat and dairy has long been a cause of <a href="https://www.peta.org/living/food/10-things-wish-everyone-knew-meat-dairy-industries/">PETA</a>. &#8220;If you’re concerned about the creepy marketing, environmental damage, health risks, economic problems, or ethical issues that plague the meat industry, you can take action immediately,&#8221; the extreme animal activist group says on its website. &#8220;Make a choice to buy less meat (including fish) and fewer eggs and dairy products — or better yet, give them up completely. It’s one of the most powerful things that you can do.&#8221;

Joaquin Phoenix

WATCH: Joaquin Phoenix Targets Meat, Dairy Farmers At Climate Rally, Admits He Just Got Off Plane

Global Warming

Golden Globes

Progressivism

The Golden Globes will serve a meatless meal to the A-list celebrities attending the annual gala event this Sunday in order to &#8220;raise awareness&#8221; around &#8220;environmental issues.&#8221;
<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/476531-golden-globes-meal-to-go-meatless-to-raise-environmental-awareness">The Hill reports</a> that the Hollywood Foreign Press-hosted fete will cut meat from the menu in order to set an example for the average Golden Globes viewer, whose meat-consuming habits, they say, are killing the planet. Don&#8217;t worry, though. Celebrities aren&#8217;t being asked to skimp. Instead of filet mignon and lobster, Hollywood&#8217;s elite will dine on &#8220;king oyster mushroom scallops on top of wild mushroom risotto with roasted Brussels sprouts&#8221; and &#8220;golden beet soup&#8221; &#8212; a meal concocted just for Sunday&#8217;s party by the executive chef of one of the country&#8217;s most expensive and exclusive hotels, The Beverly Hilton.
The Hollywood Foreign Press told the Associated Press in a statement that they believe the meal will set an example to average, everyday Americans, of how to approach the issue of climate change in a practical way.
“If there’s a way we can, not change the world, but save the planet, maybe we can get the Golden Globes to send a signal and draw attention to the issue about climate change,” Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Lorenzo Soria said. “The food we eat, the way we grow the food we eat, the way we dispose of the food is one of the large contributors to the climate crisis.”
“People were basically saying it’s too late, we’re ready with all the orders, the holidays and all that,” Soria he added. “But after we began discussions, meeting for one or two days, [the hotel] accepted the change completely. They started to experiment with how to do plant-based meals that was not just their symbolic steps, but also something that guests will enjoy.”
If the HFPA wants to start pressing environmental awareness, though, it might consider starting with the event attendees and not the event viewers. Many of the celebrities who will be in attendance Sunday night will fly into Hollywood for the event on private jets or on commercial aircraft. Still more will travel to the Beverly Hilton for the gala dinner and awards show in limousines from massive California mansions that emit far more carbon than the average American&#8217;s home.
The world&#8217;s richest 10% &#8212; many of whom are A-list Hollywood celebrities &#8212; produce half of all global climate emissions, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/worlds-richest-10-produce-half-of-global-carbon-emissions-says-oxfam">the British global NGO, Oxfam</a>. Although he won&#8217;t be at the event, action film star Tom Cruise is easily among the world&#8217;s worst carbon emitters, for example, owning a small fleet of private jets and several homes, and while he may be a bit ahead of his colleagues, they aren&#8217;t far behind.
Leonardo DiCaprio, a Hollywood environmental activist who is often criticized for his hypocritical approach to saving the planet, was among the first to applaud HFPA&#8217;s decision to go &#8220;plant-based&#8221; for the Globes, tweeting, “Thank you HFPA.”
If the HFPA wants to curb carbon emissions, it could also start with its own industry. <a href="https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/mpisreport.pdf">According to a 2006 UCLA study</a>, Hollywood&#8217;s film and television production creates more carbon emissions than at least five other industries in the greater Los Angeles area, including aerospace manufacturing. Only actual petroleum refining was worse for the environment.
Of course, the vegan meal is unlikely to be the only climate change-related grandstanding expected during the Golden Globes. The broadcast begins Sunday night at 8pm.

Golden Globes Meal Will Be Meatless To ‘Raise Environmental Awareness’

Climate change hysteria has brought people to such lowly depths of despair that they are now refusing to have children in order to protect the environment.
In an op-ed for The Huffington Post, guest writer Mariana Keen declared that she feels a &#8220;responsibility not to have children&#8221; in order to combat the world&#8217;s &#8220;unsustainable population size,&#8221; thus seeming to offer support for something that conservatives have alleged for years: Climate change hysteria can sometimes simply mask an insidious leftist/Malthusian movement for global population control.
&#8220;The world population is growing by approximately 83 million people every year, largely due to a high birth rate and falling death rate, and this is having a devastating impact on the planet,&#8221; argues Keen.
In Keen&#8217;s mind, not to mention <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-05/scientists-call-for-population-control-in-mass-climate-alarm">the scientists who have echoed</a> her sentiments, having children simply translates into &#8220;multiplying my impact on the environment&#8221; — which is further compounded by our &#8220;increased life expectancy.&#8221; The question of having children has weighed on Keen for years and has now reached an apex, given her age of 36. However, after careful consideration, she has decided that children will not be in her future.
&#8220;I don’t want children, and a major deciding factor for me has been the impact this would have on the environment,&#8221; she argues. &#8220;Of course, such a major life decision is multifaceted. I’ve made a lot of choices in response to environmental concerns, but the matter of kids has certainly been one of the more challenging topics to ponder because I’m interested in balancing my duty to our planet with making enriching life choices.&#8221;
Keen says her choice stems from two factors: Seeing that her friends are no more happier after having children and her responsibility to the environment.
&#8220;This, for me, means not adding to my home city’s population density, global population growth, and further destruction of our planet,&#8221; she emphasizes.
Keen then cites a 2009<a href="http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2009/jul/family-planning-major-environmental-emphasis" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk"> study by statisticians at Oregon State University</a> to support her claim, which argued that &#8220;having one less child in the U.S.&#8221; would dramatically impact the output of greenhouse gas emissions.
&#8220;The study found that under current conditions in the U.S., each child ultimately adds about 9,441 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the carbon legacy of an average parent ― about 5.7 times the lifetime emissions for an average person worldwide,&#8221; she says.  &#8220;For me, this impact has been worth considering. Just as I can do my bit by recycling and limiting my waste, I can help to curb the population by limiting the number of children I have.&#8221;
&#8220;So considering the environmental impact I can have in my lifetime, I’ve decided not to have kids,&#8221; she continues. &#8220;There are so many great people in my world with whom I can share love and companionship, so I don’t feel the need to have my own child in order to feel fulfilled.&#8221;
While certain segments of the climate change activist community have called for more population control, other segments have cautioned against it. The feminist <a href="https://msmagazine.com/2019/09/24/population-control-isnt-the-answer-to-our-climate-crisis/">Ms. Magazine</a>, of all places, even argued that population control would not solve the supposed problem.
&#8220;Today, arguments for population control are reemerging in mainstream and even liberal discussions around limiting women’s fertility in the name of environmental sustainability,&#8221; the article stated. &#8220;This isn’t the first time women’s bodies have been treated as a means to a demographic end. Recall such ugly initiatives, all mainstream in their day, to forcibly sterilize Black, Latina, and Indigenous women, to treat Puerto Rican women like lab rats in contraceptive trials to keep the island’s population down and to fund sterilization camps in India.&#8221;

Activists protesting outside IFEMA, where UN Climate Change

HuffPost Op-Ed: I’m Not Having Kids Because I Care About The Environment

Huffington Post

First it was called &#8220;global warming.&#8221; Then there was that inconvenient period in the 1990s and early 2000s when the average global temperature actually fell.
So the alarmists rebranded global warming as &#8220;climate change&#8221; – and the mainstream media quickly picked up the term. Forget that Earth&#8217;s climate has been changing for billions of years.
Now, though, the alarmists think that &#8220;climate change&#8221; is not as alarming as it could be, and one is pushing new terms like “global meltdown” and “climate collapse.”
&#8220;As a professional namer, I create names for companies, products and services,&#8221; Aaron Hall writes in <a href="https://adage.com/article/industry-insights/renaming-climate-change-can-new-name-finally-make-us-take-action/2218821">AdAge</a>. &#8220;After the global climate strike this past September, I found myself thinking about the terms ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming.’ Are these scientific terms too neutral? Do they do enough to grab attention and inspire people to take action?&#8221;
Hall says the terms “Global Meltdown” or “Global Melting,” deliver the right level of alarm. “The names signal that ice caps are melting, but also create a more visceral image in the mind – that real feeling of ‘melting’ when it’s too hot outside. A meltdown is a disastrous event that draws from the ultimate terror of a nuclear meltdown, an apt metaphor for global destruction.”
He also says &#8220;Climate Collapse&#8221; and &#8220;Climate Chaos&#8221; are properly alarming, too.
&#8220;Good brand names instill a clear message or even a direct call to action. Perhaps that&#8217;s why climate change isn’t powerful enough: &#8216;Change&#8217; sounds so neutral. However, there’s nothing neutral about collapse or chaos. Both are states of events that you absolutely want to avoid. They ask each of us to do what it takes to avoid collapsing or descending into chaos.&#8221; Hall also likes the alliteration – &#8220;a naming trick proven to enhance memorability.&#8221;
Then there&#8217;s &#8220;Boiling Point&#8221; and &#8220;Melting Point.&#8221;
&#8220;They refer to a tipping point that we’re catapulting toward and must find a way to avert. Because a boiling point is the point at which liquid vaporizes, it brings forth imagery of rivers, lakes and oceans boiling and disappearing. &#8216;Melting Point&#8217; paints a clear picture of solid matter melting. As glaciers melt and disappear, so does our way of life.&#8221;
And of course there&#8217;s the old favorite, &#8220;Scorched Earth,&#8221; a term that already has a specific meaning but, hey, maybe it can be rebranded.
&#8220;It&#8217;s time to take the gloves off and stop pretending. Sometimes a brand name needs to be hyperbolic to truly capture hearts and minds. If we don’t take massive action now, Earth will be uninhabitable – an irreversible barren wasteland. Plants and animals will die. Humans won’t be able to survive extreme weather like floods, droughts, and fires. If we don’t change, we won’t even be able to spend time outside. &#8216;Scorched Earth&#8217; paints the direst picture of what’s to come and what we must avoid and is likely the edgiest brand name from our exploration,&#8221; Hall writes.
Language is the new tool of climate alarmists. Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, said last week that the climate crisis is caused by &#8220;racist &#8230; systems of oppression.”
&#8220;The climate crisis is not just about the environment. It is a crisis of human rights, of justice, and of political will. Colonial, racist, and patriarchal systems of oppression have created and fueled it. We need to dismantle them all. Our political leaders can no longer shirk their responsibilities,&#8221; she wrote with two other far-left climate activists in an op-ed Friday.
&#8220;Politicians and fossil-fuel companies have known about climate change for decades,&#8221; she wrote, adding, &#8220;yet the politicians let the profiteers continue to exploit our planet&#8217;s resources and destroy its ecosystems in a quest for quick cash that threatens our very existence.&#8221;

Dry cracked earth

Alarmists Want To Rebrand ‘Climate Change,’ Call It  ‘Global Meltdown’ Or ‘Climate Collapse’ Or ‘Scorched Earth’

It&#8217;s impossible to be woke enough &#8212; and that&#8217;s a lesson extremist climate activists &#8220;Extinction Rebellion,&#8221; best known for disrupting traffic in major cities with &#8220;climate strikes,&#8221; grinding urban transit to a complete halt, is learning the hard way.
The organization, which aims to prevent the world from collapsing in an firey apocalypse in just over a decade by demonstrating with parades, puppets, and contemporary art installations, has been around for just over a year, but it&#8217;s now fallen afoul of woker critics who contend that &#8220;Extinction Rebellion&#8221; or &#8220;XR&#8221; for short, is just too white, too educated, too middle class, too privileged, and too &#8220;first world&#8221; to be adequate spokespeople for radical environmentalism.
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/24/uk/extinction-rebellion-environment-diversity-gbr-intl/index.html">In a CNN article</a> published Sunday, reporter Aimee Lewis asked the all important question: is Extinction Rebellion just not woke enough?
The criticism stems, most pointedly, from a protest XR held last month in a working class neighborhood of London. Privileged white, upper crust youth and XR&#8217;s established elderly jumped on trains and chained themselves to the public transit cars in London&#8217;s subway, disrupting the morning commute of many people who told organizers that they could hardly afford to miss a day of work. The demonstrators could not have cared less, telling the commuters that saving the planet was more important than getting to work on time, even if that job was the only way those commuters could afford the basic necessities.
&#8220;Their protest &#8212; which disrupted thousands of people&#8217;s journeys to work &#8212; was rapidly criticized as wrongheaded and out of touch by members of the public, across social media and in the press,&#8221; CNN reported. &#8220;While it&#8217;s not clear who made the decision to protest at Canning Town on October 17, the negative response has helped to spark change and self-reflection within one of the world&#8217;s highest-profile environmental movements.&#8221;
CNN points out that XR considers itself &#8220;decentralized,&#8221; meaning that anyone can act in its name. But the organization&#8217;s heirarchy expressed support for the commute disruptors.
&#8220;[T]he disruptive nature of the actions are supported by the overwhelming majority of us,&#8221; XR&#8217;s spokemsan told reporters in a statement at the time. &#8220;This is a rebellion and this an attempt to make people aware of the far worse lethal disruptions that are going to happen when there is societal collapse. We have no apologies to offer for the disruptions, but it is how these disruptions are organized and the lack of local community involvement, because of the gross inadequacies within XR, to doing local community work properly.&#8221;
The lack of empathy for working class people is endemic, apparently, within the entire environmentalist movement.
&#8220;A 2014 <a href="http://vaipl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ExecutiveSummary-Diverse-Green.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Michigan study</a> that looked into 293 mainstream NGOs, foundations and government agencies found that the &#8216;current state of racial diversity in environmental organizations is troubling,'&#8221; CNN says. &#8220;It concluded that the percentage of minorities employed as staff or on the boards of the organizations studied did not exceed 16%.&#8221;
Worse still, if ethnic minorities work for environmental organizations, they tend not to move up, leaving the upper eschelons of management overwhelmingly white.
XR tries to explain the problem away on its website, adding, in its &#8220;frequently asked questions,&#8221; that it&#8217;s &#8220;made up of people of all ages and backgrounds from all over the world. From under 18 to over 80 year olds &#8212; there are thousands of people willing to put their liberty on the line to fight the climate and ecological emergency and protect biodiversity and atmospheric health.&#8221;
&#8220;We are working to improve diversity in our movement,&#8221; it claims.
It may not get the chance. CNN is far from the only outlet that&#8217;s notice XR&#8217;s wokeness problem. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/19/extinction-rebellion-white-faces-diversity">The Guardian published</a> an account by a young minority environmentalist that critiqued the movement for its lack of diversity, but also for its &#8220;glorification of arrest,&#8221; pointing out that upper-class, educated, white youth can be arrested and jailed and not face long-term consequences, whereas ethnic minorities may end up in jail for the rest of their lives, thanks to inequalities within the criminal justice system.
&#8220;The tactics of Extinction Rebellion are designed by and for middle-class, white Britain. Their central rhetoric about a dystopian future fails to cut through for those of us already faced with a nightmarish present, surrounded by poverty and austerity,&#8221; Athian Akec wrote, adding that &#8220;[t]he tactic of being purposely arrested strikes an uncomfortable note for many people of colour, given the adverse experiences people in my community have had with the police,&#8221; and then blames XR for failing to be as intersectional as possible &#8212; a key element of modern wokeness.
&#8220;The climate movement’s failure to stand in solidarity with our political struggles adds to this sense of disconnect,&#8221; Akec says.
<a href="https://grist.org/justice/critics-call-out-extinction-rebellions-race-problem/">Grist</a>, an environmental outlet at the forefront of anti-climate change activism, recognized the problem, as did the New Statesmen, both of which commented on XR&#8217;s seeming inability to adapt to progressivism.
XR, of course, doesn&#8217;t seem to mind. More protests are planned and it doesn&#8217;t much matter who is in the way.

Extinction Rebellion

Not Woke Enough: Climate Extremists ‘Extinction Rebellion’ Hit For Being Too White, Too Rich

Hundreds of far-left activists stormed the field of Saturday&#8217;s college football game between Harvard and Yale, demanding action on climate change and demanding that the U.S. cancel Puerto Rico&#8217;s debt.
&#8220;Dozens of protesters started running on the field about three minutes before halftime ended and delayed the Game by roughly 30 minutes,&#8221; The Harvard Crimson <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/11/24/protesters-interrupt-the-game/">reported</a>. &#8220;They held signs bearing &#8216;Yale and Harvard United for Climate Justice&#8217; and started chanting &#8216;Divest.&#8217; Several dozen police officers took to the field to meet the protesters, and at least 50 people [were] escorted off the field by police officers.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Yale-Harvard is under delay because of a student protest. We’ve hit peak 2019. <a href="https://t.co/Am5e12U2el">pic.twitter.com/Am5e12U2el</a>
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1198320965240799232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
A Yale student told The Guardian that students began pushing the two universities to stop investing in energy companies they claim are causing climate change, saying, &#8220;They believe that they can engage with these companies and get them to change their fundamentally extractive business models, which we think comes from a place of naivety amounting to gross negligence.&#8221;
A separate video that appeared to be from the incident showed the far-left protesters demanding that the U.S. cancel Puerto Rico&#8217;s debt.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It’s unconscionable that Harvard and Yale continue to profit off of fossil fuels, private prisons, and the Puerto Rican debt. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nobodywins?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nobodywins</a> <a href="https://t.co/vBm9kaVpC2">pic.twitter.com/vBm9kaVpC2</a>
— Byron Hurlbut (@hurlbut_byron) <a href="https://twitter.com/hurlbut_byron/status/1198324343509585920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
Shortly after the protests began, law enforcement officials began to take people into custody.
ESPN college football studio host Matt Barrie tweeted: &#8220;Harvard-Yale update: The protestors have told police they want to be arrested. So police have tied them together, two at a time, and are taking them off the field. Kickoff in about 10-mins.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Harvard-Yale update: The protestors have told police they want to be arrested. So police have tied them together, two at a time, and are taking them off the field.
Kickoff in about 10-mins.
— Matt Barrie (@MattBarrie) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattBarrie/status/1198325494208438273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Climate protesters at Harvard Yale <a href="https://t.co/AaCE2ACVCk">https://t.co/AaCE2ACVCk</a>
— Ryan (@RyanMaue) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/1198328250466029568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
Far-left activist David Hogg, who attends Harvard, suggested that protesting at the football game was needed to save everyone on the planet from dying.
&#8220;You know what’s more important than a football game? The survival of the human race,&#8221; Hogg tweeted. &#8220;Complain all you want, but if we don’t do something now, Harvard won’t be able to continue beating Yale 100 years from now because there will be no human race. #HarvardYale&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
You know what’s more important than a football game?
The survival of the human race
Complain all you want but if we don’t do something now Harvard won’t be able to continue beating Yale 100 years from now because there will be no human race. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HarvardYale?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HarvardYale</a>
— David Hogg text VOTE to 954-954 (@davidhogg111) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/1198326482155769856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;We need some 1960s level activism to save our planet and democracy. In the next couple of years, the protests will become so big that cops wont be able to handle it and the national guard/military will have to be called in. But you can be sure we will persist and win,&#8221; the far-left activist continued. &#8220;Peaceful political revolution is on the horizon, but we need to all get out, take a stand, vote and run for office. Our enemies are much bigger than any politician, our enemies are the sources of evil that perpetuate injustice.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Peaceful political revolution is on the horizon, but we need to all get out, take a stand, vote and run for office.
Our enemies are much bigger than any politician, our enemies are the sources of evil that perpetuate injustice.
— David Hogg text VOTE to 954-954 (@davidhogg111) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/1198332770734485509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;We will not act with violence, negativity, and hate because that is what the oppressor wants,&#8221; Hogg continued. &#8220;Instead we will act with love and tolerance to eradicate the hate and intolerance that empowers the oppressor. Together we can create a loving America and a truly free country.&#8221;

Yale Bulldogs Vs Harvard Crimson

Far-Left Activists Storm Harvard-Yale Game, Demand Climate Action. Police Arrest Them.

David Hogg

Puerto Rico

Celebrity testimony is an age-old political stunt on Capitol Hill. If you want the press at your hearing, you lunge at the chance to have a star athlete, or a famous singer or actor, bring some zing to your issue. Democrats do this better because they have a lot more friends in Hollywood and they&#8217;re always more willing to push the envelope with silliness. When you want to push your agenda on agriculture to the left and you need attention, you get Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek to testify. Their credentials? They all starred in movies about agriculture.
Another example of this happened on Nov. 19 when the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on environment, chaired by Rep. Harley Rouda, D-Calif., called upon the Bernie Sanders-backing actor Mark Ruffalo to testify on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or &#8220;PFAS.&#8221;
These chemicals are used for many everyday uses. &#8220;(T)hey keep food from sticking to cookware, make clothes and carpets resistant to stains, and create firefighting foam,&#8221; the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reports. But these chemicals have leached into soil and water and air, and they show up in the bloodstream. So there&#8217;s a real policy debate there.
But Ruffalo doesn&#8217;t have a college degree in chemistry. He doesn&#8217;t have a college degree in anything. He has only played scientist Dr. Bruce Banner (&#8220;The Hulk&#8221;) in the &#8220;Avengers&#8221; movies.
At least those actresses were honored in the &#8217;80s as experts for movies that had already come and gone in theatres. Ruffalo is starring in a movie about evil chemical companies called &#8220;Dark Waters,&#8221; which opens in limited release three days after his star appearance on the Hill. Distributed by NBCUniversal&#8217;s Focus Features brand, it&#8217;s based on the real-life lawsuits against DuPont by an activist lawyer named Rob Bilott.
Rep. Fred Keller of Pennsylvania underlined this stunt. &#8220;The majority has called as their star witness an actor. That&#8217;s right, an actor,&#8221; he said. &#8220;An actor with no medical, no scientific or research expertise except for a few scenes as Dr. Bruce Banner. An actor that has a record of anti-business activism. More importantly to Mr. Ruffalo &#8230; an actor with a movie premiering this week that attacks private-sector job creators with loose facts and hyped-up emotional rhetoric.&#8221;
Loose facts? Emotional rhetoric?
Consider this: In 2016, Virginia Tech professor Dr. Marc Edwards ripped Ruffalo as an &#8220;A-List actor but F-List scientist&#8221; for the &#8220;fear and misinformation&#8221; created by Ruffalo&#8217;s activist group, Water Defense. The subject was the water quality in Flint, Michigan. Dr. Edwards is credited for helping to expose the lead contamination problem in Flint. Then-President Obama reassured Flint residents that the water was safe to drink after they switched back to Detroit-sourced water, but Ruffalo and his leftist group shamelessly continued to claim that the water was unsafe for showering or bathing.
Ruffalo&#8217;s real credential for the House Democrats is his socialist ideology. He has publicly endorsed Jeremy Corbyn, the nut who called Karl Marx a &#8220;great economist,&#8221; for British prime minister. Radical Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib were gushing over Ruffalo in this committee hearing. Tlaib told the movie star: &#8220;I think what you said is exactly what we need to do in Congress. &#8230; Corporate greed is tainting our democracy.&#8221;
This actor has an estimated net worth of $30 million. Corporate greed has been very good to him.
Another supporter of Ruffalo in the hearing was Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former head of the Democratic National Committee. But on Nov. 14, in a different hearing, Schultz decried pro-life activist Allie Beth Stuckey&#8217;s being allowed to testify on the brutality of abortion. &#8220;I just want to clarify that Ms. Stuckey is expressing her own opinion exclusively, and has no scientific or particular expertise in this subject matter whatsoever,&#8221; she said.
Stuckey didn&#8217;t cling to leftist orthodoxy. So she was unqualified to testify.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Mark Ruffalo

BOZELL & GRAHAM: When Actors Play Scientist On Capitol Hill

Could &#8220;ecological sin&#8221; one day be added to the list of sins in the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Pope Francis has proposed such an idea.
Speaking at the 20th World Congress of the International Association of Penal Law in Rome, the Holy Father said Christians have a duty to preserve the environment.
&#8220;We have to introduce – we are thinking about it – to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the sin against ecology, the &#8216;ecological sin&#8217; against our common home, because a duty is at stake,&#8221; Pope Francis said, as reported by <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-proposes-adding-ecological-sin-against-common-home-to-catechism">LifeSiteNews</a>.
So how exactly would a &#8220;sin against ecology&#8221; work on theological scale? According to Catholic author Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, the language would have to be framed in a way that illustrates that the sin would be against God rather than an inanimate object.
“There is no possible sin against planet Earth,” Kwasniewski told the outlet. “All sins are ultimately against God or those who are in God&#8217;s image. As all theologians have explained prior to the post-conciliar decline of theology, when we abuse the natural world or animals or plants, we are sinning against God their creator, who gave them to us to use for the right purposes and in accordance with their nature and ours.&#8221;
“The only ‘targets’ of sin are persons, since they are either divine persons who deserve our total obedience, or angelic or human persons who deserve our reverence as images of God,&#8221; he continued.
If a person were to abuse a tree or an animal, Kwasniewski said that the person would be in grave violation against God due to the natural order, not because an animal or a tree has any basic rights.
“Someone who tortures an animal or burns down a forest for fun is a sinner not because the animal or the forest has rights, but because he offends God, the great king over all the earth, from whom all things come for our benefit and to whom they are ordered,” he said. “Man is obliged in justice to respect God&#8217;s gift and the order He has established; man must also respect the common destination of material goods, i.e., that God has made the earth for the benefit of all, not for the selfish benefit of a few,” he continued.
If Pope Francis were to frame &#8220;ecological sin&#8221; in this light if the Cathechism were to ever be amended, it would stand in line with Catholic tradition, which has always stated human beings have a moral obligation to preserve the environment as a gift sent from God. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI made that very argument in his &#8220;God and the World.&#8221;
&#8220;Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens living so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible,” Benedict wrote. “Animals, too, are God&#8217;s creatures and even if they do not have the same direct relationship to God that human beings have, they are still creatures of God&#8217;s will, creatures we must respect as companions in creation.&#8221;

Pope Francis Celebrates World Day Of The Poor With Special Mass And Lunch

Pope Francis Proposes Adding ‘Ecological Sin’ To Catechism

Catholic Church

Greta has left the mainland.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old phenom from Sweden, has left the United States en route to Spain for a climate summit. But she doesn&#8217;t fly &#8212; too much pollution from burning a petroleum product.
So instead she&#8217;s on a boat, made of &#8230; petroleum products.
&#8220;So happy to say I&#8217;ll hopefully make it to COP25 in Madrid,&#8221; Greta wrote on Twitter. &#8220;I’ve been offered a ride from Virginia on the 48ft catamaran La Vagabonde. Australians @Sailing_LaVaga ,Elayna Carausu &amp; @_NikkiHenderson from England will take me across the Atlantic. We sail for Europe tomorrow morning!&#8221; she wrote Tuesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
So happy to say I&#8217;ll hopefully make it to COP25 in Madrid. 
I’ve been offered a ride from Virginia on the 48ft catamaran La Vagabonde. Australians @Sailing_LaVaga ,Elayna Carausu &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/_NikkiHenderson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_NikkiH</a>e<a href="https://twitter.com/_NikkiHenderson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">nderson</a> from England will take me across the Atlantic. 
We sail for Europe tomorrow morning! <a href="https://t.co/qJcgREe332">pic.twitter.com/qJcgREe332</a>
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) November 12, 2019</blockquote>
&#8220;Twelve weeks after sailing into New York City, Greta hitched a ride back to Europe Wednesday with celebrity sailors Elayna Carausu and Riley Whitelum on La Vagabonde, a luxury catamaran made of petroleum products like fiberglass,&#8221; The <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/nov/14/greta-thunberg-takes-flak-returning-europe-plastic/">Washington Times</a> reported.
<blockquote>Greta’s father Svante Thunberg and British yachtswoman Nikki Henderson joined the La Vagabonde crew, raising questions about whether they flew across the pond only to sail back.
In addition to solar and hydro power, the craft is equipped with two diesel 30hp engines, according to Multihull Central, a boat-reviewing site, as noted by climate skeptic Tom Nelson.</blockquote>
That last detail brought some criticism on social media sites.
&#8220;Uh oh: Greta&#8217;s planet-destroying luxury yacht has two diesel engines with 672L diesel fuel tank,&#8221; wrote on person on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Uh oh: Greta&#8217;s planet-destroying luxury yacht has two diesel engines with 672L diesel fuel tank.<a href="https://t.co/vkQM1bHlls">https://t.co/vkQM1bHlls</a><a href="https://t.co/ga1xg7MiHO">https://t.co/ga1xg7MiHO</a><a href="https://t.co/esHRZ0aJwR">https://t.co/esHRZ0aJwR</a> <a href="https://t.co/0e0vmDoJRF">https://t.co/0e0vmDoJRF</a>
— Tom Nelson (@tan123) November 13, 2019</blockquote>
&#8220;Greta’s return boat, an Outremer 45, weighs 17,400 pounds and is made of fiberglass, or fiber-reinforced plastic. The yacht was pumped out of the ground by oil companies. It draws auxiliary power from twin Volvo Diesel engines,&#8221; wrote another.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Greta’s return boat, an Outremer 45, weighs 17,400 pounds and is made of fiberglass, or fiber-reinforced plastic. The yacht was pumped out of the ground by oil companies. It draws auxiliary power from twin Volvo Diesel engines #Greta <a href="https://t.co/JZJelGiS3O">https://t.co/JZJelGiS3O</a>
— CFACT (@CFACT) November 13, 2019</blockquote>
“The irony of protesting capitalism and oil on board a carbon-fiber (petrochemical) yacht owned by European royals who made billions operating Monaco as a tax haven was rich,” CFACT President Craig Rucker said, The Times reported.
The 16-year-old student  has become an international star and darling of the mainstream media. She has warned world leaders about climate change in a speech at the United Nations, and she&#8217;s been palling around with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who also is a climate activist.
She was set to head down Chile for a U.N. climate summit this month but that was been canceled amid political unrest. “As #COP25 has officially been moved from Santiago to Madrid I’ll need some help,” Greta wrote on Twitter Nov. 1 while in Los Angeles. “It turns out I’ve traveled half around the world, the wrong way. Now I need to find a way to cross the Atlantic in November … If anyone could help me find transport I would be so grateful.”
Twitterers hit her then, too.
&#8220;[F]ly on a private jet with Leo, he flies private all over the world,&#8221; one wag wrote. Another offered an even better solution: &#8220;Video-conference saves energy.&#8221;
But others offered real advice.
&#8220;Dear Greta, Millions of people fly on airplanes every day. Your life doesn&#8217;t need to be so complicated. You are being lied to by the adults around you. You should be in school enjoying yourself, not being tortured by unscrupulous people using you for propaganda.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
Dear Greta,
Millions of people fly on airplanes every day. Your life doesn&#8217;t need to be so complicated. You are being lied to by the adults around you.
You should be in school enjoying yourself, not being tortured by unscrupulous people using you for propaganda.
— Tony Heller (@Tony__Heller) November 3, 2019</blockquote>

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Far-Left Activists Storm Harvard-Yale Game, Demand Climate Action. Police Arrest Them.

BOZELL & GRAHAM: When Actors Play Scientist On Capitol Hill

Pope Francis Proposes Adding ‘Ecological Sin’ To Catechism

Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Heads To Spain On Yacht Made From Petroleum Products

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Environmentalism

Harvard Study Says Pollution Affects Coronavirus. Democrats Pounce.

GRAHAM: Earth Day Dunking On Humans

CNN Reporter Claims Coronavirus Has ‘Helped Humanity’ Buy Time To Address Global Warming

John Kerry: Trump Administration ‘Using The Coronavirus Moment As Cover,’ Will ‘Kill More Americans’ With Regulation Change

Spike Lee On COVID-19: ‘Earth Was Angry At Us’

PRAGER: Maybe Nature Shouldn’t Be Worshipped After All

Liberal Cities Reverse Plastic Bag Bans, Ban Reusable Bags; Plastic Industry Lobbies For More

Justin Trudeau Gets Crushed Online After Suggesting Canadians Turn Off Lights, TV For ‘Earth Hour’ Amid Coronavirus Quarantine

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PRAGER: The Question That Explains Almost Everything

Trump Administration Approves Big Step Toward Completing Keystone XL Pipeline

WATCH: Joaquin Phoenix Targets Meat, Dairy Farmers At Climate Rally, Admits He Just Got Off Plane

Golden Globes Meal Will Be Meatless To ‘Raise Environmental Awareness’

HuffPost Op-Ed: I’m Not Having Kids Because I Care About The Environment

Alarmists Want To Rebrand ‘Climate Change,’ Call It ‘Global Meltdown’ Or ‘Climate Collapse’ Or ‘Scorched Earth’

Not Woke Enough: Climate Extremists ‘Extinction Rebellion’ Hit For Being Too White, Too Rich

Far-Left Activists Storm Harvard-Yale Game, Demand Climate Action. Police Arrest Them.

BOZELL & GRAHAM: When Actors Play Scientist On Capitol Hill

Pope Francis Proposes Adding ‘Ecological Sin’ To Catechism

Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Heads To Spain On Yacht Made From Petroleum Products

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