“Under my plan your energy costs will…necessarily skyrocket.” — Barack Hussein Obama
Power to the people . . . NOT. It seems to me that our governmental policies on energy are taking power away from the people. In Florida, those massive PUBLIC utilities, you know the ones that are supposed to provide low-cost energy for all, are more concerned with their stakeholders and their tax breaks, than with We The People.
I got up this morning to crisp air and I knew that summer was over. That means the thermostat changes from A/C to Heat. No problem, I thought. We have been conserving. I looked at my bills from last year and realized I am paying more for less! How is that possible? Could it be because Florida has been replacing fossil fuels with solar power? Remember, I told you I sent a letter to Governor DeSantis asking him what solar panels taste like as we replace our food farms with solar farms. I never got an answer. I started doing some research in my old files. I was trying to find out why, when President Trump’s energy policy is drill baby drill and use all forms of energy, Florida is not paying attention.
Obama was right, but why? How did he know, unless scarcity and high costs were his plan? Did he design an energy crisis to appease his donors, like Solyndra and the Gulf oil spill? Look no further than the environmental movement. In the beginning, the environmental movement was great and their regulations brought us clean air and water. But, as in most movements, the environment became the political football so politicians could make fortunes from greedy donors who needed crushing regulations to replace efficient, inexpensive fossil fuel with overly expensive inefficient wind and solar. We the People be dammed. No Power for the people.
If we go back in history a little further, we find Agenda21 which is one of the best kept secrets of wealth redistribution ever created! This UN treaty of world-wide enslavement, through a series of lies, uses the environment and natural disasters to convince the population that CO2, carbon dioxide, the gas necessary for life, is the evil demon and must be eliminated. Of course, once CO2 was eliminated, human life would cease to exist. Since this UN crowd wants to depopulate the planet, CO2 was the perfect target to demonize.
The environmental movement has been described as the largest and most influential social phenomenon in modern history. From its relative obscurity just a few decades ago, it has spawned thousands of organizations and claims millions of committed activists. Today, it is hard to imagine a time when global warming, resource depletion, environmental catastrophes and ‘saving the planet’ are barely mentioned. They now rank among the top priorities on the social, political and economic global agenda.
Environmental awareness is considered to be the mark of any good, honest, decent citizen. Multi-national companies compete fiercely to promote their environmental credentials and ‘out-green’ each other. The threat of impending ecological disasters is uniting the world through a plethora of international treaties and conventions. Should your company or country not comply to the insane strangling regulations that do nothing for the environment, you will pay a tax to the corrupt Marxist United Nations. In reality, it’s about the money. Just follow the money.
Where did this phenomenon come from? How did it rise to such prominence? And more importantly, where is it going? Agenda 21 was updated to Agenda 2030. This is your new life’s plan, created by someone else. The idea of God given Rights are gone. In the name of saving the planet, every step you take and every move you make will be monitored. You are going to even be taxed for breathing. The government is watching you. In this agenda you will find:
Wildlands Project eliminates human presence over 50% of the American Landscape
Smart Growth herds Americans into regimented, dense urban communities with the Government controlling your daily life
Sustainable Development works to abolish private property, in order to manufacture natural resource shortages and other alarms in order to facilitate governmental control over all resources and ultimately over all human action.
Stakeholder Consensus councils are system of councils that report to an apex council (UN), and affect a region or neighborhood by eliminating elected officials.
Education for all to make sure that all propaganda creates the same thoughts for everyone.
Green Energy inefficient, ineffective wind and solar taking the power from the people.
Did YOU vote for this? Did your legislator vote for this? Why did Gov DeSantis sign it? Follow the money.
MONEY • POWER • CONTROL
Not in Free Florida, you say!! Senate Bill 700 (SB 700), aka 2025 Florida Farm Bill, was passed by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 15, 2025 (Chapter No. 2025-22, effective July 1, 2025).This bill amends Florida Statute § 193.461 to require property appraisers to classify land owned or leased by electric utilities as agricultural if it’s used for both bona fide agricultural purposes (like farming or forestry) and solar energy systems.
This “dual-use” setup lets utilities keep the lower agricultural tax rates—based on the land’s current use rather than its highest potential value—while supporting renewable energy and farming. It helps prevent reclassification that could raise taxes on former farmland bought for solar projects.
The provision tackles concerns about utilities buying up agricultural land for solar farms, which could otherwise lose greenbelt tax breaks and drive up local property taxes. It also requires utilities to submit 10-year site plans for review if building on recently acquired agricultural land and gives the state a right of first refusal on development rights for such acquisitions.
How does this work? What can we do? Time to hear from an expert. I asked Dave Walsh, energy guru, former President & CEO of Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, Energy advisor, and national energy commentator to join me and explain what’s up with Florida energy.
Note: COP30 is serving up chicken and Bob’s Burgers & Shakes to UN delegates. No sign of bugs available to eat. Politico reported that Bob’s sold out of hamburgers on Day 2 of the climate summit.
CRAP30! Breaking News: UN demands no toilet paper in toilets! Urges delegates ‘not to flush toilet paper…in the toilets at the COP 30 venue …Please use the bins provided for disposal’
Climate Depot’s Marc Morano: “The UN can’t even figure out how to allow toilet paper in toilets at their own summit, but they want to tell the world how to manage and plan their energy economies for the year 2100!”
“They really did clear-cut a forest just so they could have a climate conference.”@climatedepot Marc Morano confirms that 100,000 trees were cut for a new highway leading to the U.N. Climate summit. pic.twitter.com/wChSMkAhRj
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/COP30.jpg360640Marc Morano from Climate Depothttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMarc Morano from Climate Depot2025-11-13 14:55:342025-11-13 14:59:21CRAP30! UN urges delegates ‘not to flush toilet paper…in the toilets at the COP 30′ — Hamburgers sell out at UN! — Gore says Gates fears Trump!
Please use social media, etc. to pass on this Newsletter to other open-minded citizens…If you’d like to be added to (or unsubscribe from) the distribution of our popular, free, worldwide Media Balance Newsletter, simply send me an email saying that.
Note 1: We recommend reading the Newsletter on your computer, not your phone, as some documents (e.g., PDFs) are much easier to read on a large computer screen… We’ve tried to use common fonts, etc. to minimize display issues.
Note 2: For past Newsletter issues see the archives from 2022, 2023, 2024, & 2025. To accommodate numerous requests received about prior articles over all fifteen plus years of the Newsletter, we’ve put this together — where you can search ALL prior issues, by year. For a background about how the Newsletter is put together, etc., please read this.
Note 3: See this extensive list of reasonable books on climate change. As a parallel effort, we have also put together a list of some good books related to industrial wind energy. Both topics are also extensively covered on my website: WiseEnergy.org.
Note 4: I am not an attorney or a physician, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or any of my websites) should be construed as giving legal or medical advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent, licensed attorney when you are involved with legal issues, and consult a competent physician regarding medical matters.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/AWED-The-Media-Balance-Newsletter-LOGO.jpg360640John Droz, Jr.http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJohn Droz, Jr.2025-11-10 04:24:222025-11-10 04:24:49AWED MEDIA BALANCED NEWS: We cover Energy to Education to Elections — and more!
I will be reporting on the reaction to Bill Gates’ transformation into a climate skeptic, the clear-cutting of thousands of acres of the Amazon rainforest & will be urging the Trump administration to withdraw the U.S. from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit treaty that got the U.S. into this whole UN climate agenda/sustainable development mess! Stay tuned…!
Team of Climate Skeptics to Descend on UN COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil
Self-Declared ‘Unofficial U.S. Delegation’
The UN climate summit, COP30, kicks off next week in Belém, Brazil — from November 10-21 — deep in the Amazon rainforest. Once again, CFACT (The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow) is dispatching a U.S. delegation to the annual climate confab, ready to challenge the agenda head-on.
CFACT’s mission at COP30 is clear: build on the momentum from President Trump’s bold withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and rally other nations to follow suit, derailing the UN’s expansive climate agenda once and for all.
CNN has already hyped COP30 as “one of the most consequential climate summits in a decade.” — but it could prove even more historic. For the first time since the U.S. signed the 1992 Rio Earth Summit treaty, there will be no official U.S. delegation present.
Undeterred, CFACT’s team of U.S. climate skeptics is stepping up as the self-declared “unofficial” U.S. delegation to COP30. They’ll be on the ground to amplify Bill Gates’ recent climate realism — that climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise” — while backing the more than 100 nations that have yet to submit their so-called “required” plans to the UN for hitting the Paris Accord’s net-zero targets.
At COP30, CFACT’s Craig Rucker, Marc Morano, and their team will seize the global stage to press the Trump administration to formally withdraw the U.S. from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit treaty — signed by then-President George H.W. Bush and ratified by the U.S. Senate.
CFACT’s Marc Morano added urgency to the call: “Withdrawing from the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change would be the most significant step the Trump administration could take to shatter this 33-year climate stranglehold on America. No Republican president has ever dared attempt it. This would etch Trump’s agenda in stone — making Trump 2.0’s climate legacy truly permanent and a nightmare for any future President AOC or Gavin Newsom to reverse.”
The Trump administration needs to officially withdraw the U.S. from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit Treaty, signed by then-President George H.W. Bush and ratified by the U.S. Senate.
An analysis by Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki’s revealed: “It was written into U.S. law when President George H. W. Bush signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Rio Earth Summit on June 12, 1992, and the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent on October 7, 1992. Bush then signed the instrument of ratification on October 13, 1992, making the U.S. the first industrialized nation to ratify the treaty.” …
The treaty explicitly provides a withdrawal mechanism: a country may notify the U.N. and, one year later, the exit takes effect. If the Paris executive pledge could be reversed, this Senate-ratified foundation can be lawfully revisited as well.”
“During his first term, Trump declined to exit the UNFCCC, which the Democratic-led Senate had ratified during George H.W. Bush’s presidency following the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro.” …
“If Trump does pull the country out of the framework, it could be difficult for a new president to undo. Joining a treaty requires a two-thirds Senate vote — a high hurdle even in less polarized times…”
It’s the COP30 piss take. Starting off with UN Chief. This year he’s demanding tougher Net Zero restrictions and $1.3 TRILLION a year in finance for “Climate Justice” He means Communist justice, where we all become equally poor, whilst the climate evangelists get even richer. pic.twitter.com/TB6oK8ORY9 — Bernie (@Artemisfornow) November 4, 2025 Flashback: UN […https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/03/international-climate-aid-just-transition By Dharna Noor Less than 3% of international aid to slash carbon emissions is supporting a “just transition” for workers and communities away from polluting industries, according to a new report. Released one week before the start of major United Nations climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil, the analysis from the climate and development non-profit ActionAid warns […]
I hereby self-declare myself to act as the ‘unofficial’ U.S. representative to COP30! I leave later this week for a 10-day trek to Belém, Brazil, to attend the UN climate summit in person. I am fully UN credentialed, & this will be my 21st out of the past 23 in-person… https://t.co/yOwiMEiwv9 — Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) […]
Author and publisher of ClimateDepot.com Marc Morano told the DCNF that this “UN COP FLOP” is a result of “the Trump Effect.”
“Other, more timid nations are picking up the Trump energy and quietly walking away from this 30-year global fiasco known as the UN climate agenda. Trump came along at just the right time in history, as Europeans and others are now fully realizing they have been had by decades of false promises that green energy would be ‘cheaper’ and that they could easily ‘transition’ away from fossil fuels,” Morano continued. “Trump has done the U.S. and the world a great favor by exposing this fraudulent UN climate process.”
Morano previously told the DCNF that Democrats and Europeans seem to be retreating from aggressive climate policies as the American “public is not tolerating virtue signaling about saving the planet anymore.” Several corporate media outlets and some Democrats have recently shifted away from climate policy and are instead focusing their message on rising electricity prices and reliability.
“Leave it to ‘Mitt Romney’ style Republicans like Sen. Curtis to try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. … The UN climate agenda and the UN’s COP30 meetings should be disbanded, not given credibility by GOP senators,” Marc Morano, author and Climate Depot executive editor, told the DCNF.
“This is a pathetic throwback to the pre-Trump Republicanism of George H. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. … The UN climate agenda has quite literally overseen the outsourcing of the West’s once dominant industries to China, India, and the developing world. The U.S., Canada, and Europe have boasted about emission accounting tricks, while China builds two new coal plants a week and benefits from the West’s attempts at a ‘green transition.’ The U.S. does not need ‘a seat at the table’ at the UN climate summit, we need to knock the table over.”
The Trump Effect = UN COP FLOP! 100 countries stall on ‘climate targets’ ahead of COP30 — As Trump is pushing world leaders to abandon the climate fight
https://t.co/HqbrqeewVO — Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki (@MatthewWielicki) September 23, 2025 By Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki Global elites have spent three decades telling us “climate is a global problem, so only global solutions will do.” That framing didn’t appear by magic. It was written into U.S. law when President George H. W. Bush signed the […]
The world gets 14.2% of its energy from renewables That’s near the record-low of 11.1% in 2007 and far from average since 1800 of 47% Increase since 2010 so slow that, on current trends, world will reach 100% renewables in 2392https://t.co/5CnwvAEmorpic.twitter.com/dE1gvTWBKI — Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) September 21, 2025 The world is mostly fossil-fuel powered […]
China is positioning itself to be the world leader in electricity for the rest of this century, supplementing its massive 1,500 GW of coal with dynamic development programs of nuclear, renewables and hydroelectric, including ongoing construction of the Motuo Hydropower Station of 60 GW, three times greater than their Three Gorges Dam.
Coal provided 45% of electricity in the US as of 2010. After the closure of over 300 coal plants, coal now produces only 16% and, based on the latest DOE forecast, by 2030 coal will provide only 8%. President Trump has taken steps to temporarily protect certain coal plants, but it is important to note that some of the groups filing suit to close the units are the utilities themselves, essentially guaranteeing these plants will eventually be closed.
Climate Depot’s Morano comment: “We may have to look at scaling back LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) exports as needed to benefit American consumers. Are we riding the correct horse when it comes to the alleged ‘AI race’ to beat China? Should we be reconsidering our AI push because AI power demands are set to harm American consumers and possibly derail the Trump Administration’s energy plans?
We have to be wary that Big Tech subsidies and AI data center power demands are gutting Trump’s agenda of plentiful, cheap energy.
With current AI policies, we may be heading straight to a huge consumer rebellion over rising utility bills in the USA. AI may have its pluses and minuses, but for anyone who thinks that Big Tech billionaires are pushing AI to make our lives better, think again: AI has a massive potential to control our lives.
Are American consumers going to be stuck with subsidizing Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates’ grandiose AI visions? Perhaps it’s time to send these AI-induced, larger electricity bills directly to Big Tech.”
As Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman warns in “The Coming Wave,” his book co-authored with Michael Bhaskar:
“AI can provide rocket fuel for authoritarians and for great power competition alike … an ability to capture and harness data at an extraordinary scale and precision; to create territory-spanning systems of surveillance and control.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/COP30.jpg360640Marc Morano from Climate Depothttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMarc Morano from Climate Depot2025-11-06 11:16:412025-11-06 11:19:39COP FLOP: Morano to Brazil for UN’s Clear-Cut30 Climate fest as 100k Amazon trees felled for summit — Gates Retreats from Alarmism
FYI: interestingly, Bill Gates just publicly backed off of his climate alarmist rhetoric. Not surprisingly Bill never had a hard Science degree, so his climate commentaries were based on political science, not Real Science.
Global warming is the perfect fashionable worry for you liberals so you can talk about it like you know something about science, seem deeply concerned to make you look empathetic, and so you can tax other people to act like you are doing something about it – all with no quantifiable metrics to ever dispute your “grave” concerns.
Apparently, we have won the war on “global warming” the same way government “wins” most wars, like Covid in 2020 and the Vietnam War in 1975; they got too expensive and we got tired of hearing about them, so we just declared them over.
Can you remember any of the fearful warnings that government rained on us that panned out? The Domino Theory in Vietnam, Acid Rain, Smog, Holes in the Ozone Layer, Nuclear plants shuttered, Y2K, Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, the marauding Muslim armies that would come to our shores if we did not fight them “over there…” Then came the Russian Hoax, and Draconian Covid-shutdowns.
Those in power tend to scare us with fake fears, and then they act like they solved the problem. Government’s mantra seems to be “Everything is worse than you think, but I can fix it.” The murkier and more pretentiously moral the “crisis,” the better; then they set out to solve those mythical problems of their own creation. Every answer Dems come up gives them more power and taxes us more.
Maybe the earth just warms and cools over time. No need for hucksters to make money from it. Put in words Dems might understand, maybe the earth’s temperature is just “transitioning.”
To believe all the climate change propaganda, you must subscribe to the following: The Earth is warming, man is causing it (a fraction of a degree), it’s not cyclical and politicians are so smart that if we give them trillions more dollars, they can change the temperature of the Earth.
Bartender-turned-thought-leader of the Democrat party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has turned her considerable intellect to opining on climate change. With the precision that can only come with $100,000 of student loan debt for a dubious liberal arts degree from a party school, she said at a climate forum in D.C. years ago that global warming “will cause the world to end in 12 years.”
The other global warming leader was 22-year-old Greta Thunberg. She has since turned her condescending scowl to helping Hamas. She demands the creation of a Palestinian state. You know, so it can be destroyed in 12 years by climate change.
Leftist dogma defies reason. We are led to believe that the polar ice caps are breaking up, but the Clintons are still together.
Time and facts are tricky things. Glaciers are now gaining ice. Miami is not underwater. The United Nations, which is promoting global warming as a shakedown excuse, leaked a U.N. study that said solar activity played a greater role in global warming than originally thought. Wow — the sun? It’s always the last place you think to look, ain’t it?
Gavin Newsom even tried to blame the Pacific Palisades wildfires on global warming (not that his policies have limited the water in the area to only hot tubs and bongs). Then it turns out the fires were started by an Uber driver. Whoops, wrong again. If Newsom is ever right about something, it will be one in a row. To err is human, but to blame it on others shows potential for presidential Democrat nominees.
The media and the Left bully people into believing the theory by saying, “The science is settled.” Then they set about calling those who do not cower in line with them “flat-earthers,” which is the kind of arrogant, derisive statement at which the Left is particularly good. Academic careers end in the liberal enclaves they gain tenure in if they point out any facts contrary to the religion of global warming.
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Actors without a high school diploma, like Leonard DiCaprio, lecture us on driving SUVs as he flies super models to his yacht in his private plane. Al Gore’s factually incorrect PowerPoint presentation wins Oscars. I do know one climate change fact: Global warming is the number one cause of documentaries.
Leftists make their point as they do now, with violence. The Mona Lisa got vandalized by climate activists. They threw paint on it. I say give them no attention and just reclassify the masterpiece as a Jackson Pollock.
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https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/climate-change.jpg404640John Droz, Jr.http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJohn Droz, Jr.2025-10-29 12:23:332025-10-29 12:25:44What Happened to Climate Change, the “Existential Threat” of our Time?
Please use social media, etc. to pass on this Newsletter to other open-minded citizens…If you’d like to be added to (or unsubscribe from) the distribution of our popular, free, worldwide Media Balance Newsletter, simply send me an email saying that.
Note 1: We recommend reading the Newsletter on your computer, not your phone, as some documents (e.g., PDFs) are much easier to read on a large computer screen… We’ve tried to use common fonts, etc. to minimize display issues.
Note 2: For past Newsletter issues see the archives from 2022, 2023, 2024, & 2025. To accommodate numerous requests received about prior articles over all fifteen plus years of the Newsletter, we’ve put this together — where you can search ALL prior issues, by year. For a background about how the Newsletter is put together, etc., please read this.
Note 3: See this extensive list of reasonable books on climate change. As a parallel effort, we have also put together a list of some good books related to industrial wind energy. Both topics are also extensively covered on my website: WiseEnergy.org.
Note 4: I am not an attorney or a physician, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or any of my websites) should be construed as giving legal or medical advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent, licensed attorney when you are involved with legal issues, and consult a competent physician regarding medical matters.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/AWED-The-Media-Balance-Newsletter-LOGO.jpg360640John Droz, Jr.http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJohn Droz, Jr.2025-10-26 14:32:122025-10-26 14:33:06AWED MEDIA BALANCED NEWS: We cover Energy to Education to Elections — and more!
Joint Statement by Secretary of State Rubio, Secretary of Energy Wright, and Secretary of Transportation Duffy
President Trump has made it clear that the United States will not accept any international environmental agreement that unduly or unfairly burdens the United States or harms the interests of the American people. Next week, members of the IMO will vote on the adoption of a so-called NZF aimed at reducing global carbon dioxide gas emissions from the international shipping sector. This will be the first time that a UN organization levies a global carbon tax on the world.
The Administration unequivocally rejects this proposal before the IMO and will not tolerate any action that increases costs for our citizens, energy providers, shipping companies and their customers, or tourists. The economic impacts from this measure could be disastrous, with some estimates forecasting global shipping costs increasing as much as 10% or more. We ask you to join us in rejecting adoption of the NZF at the October meeting and to work together on our collective economic and energy security.
The NZF proposal poses significant risks to the global economy and subjects not just Americans, but all IMO member states to an unsanctioned global tax regime that levies punitive and regressive financial penalties, which could be avoided. The United States is considering the following actions against nations that support this global carbon tax on American consumers:
Pursuing investigations and considering potential regulations to combat anti-competitive practices from certain flagged countries and potential blocking vessels registered in those countries from U.S. ports;
Imposing visa restrictions including an increase in fees and processing, mandatory re-interview requirements and/or revisions of quotas for C-1/D maritime crew member visas;
Imposing commercial penalties stemming from U.S. government contracts including new commercial ships, liquified natural gas terminals and infrastructure, and/or other financial penalties on ships flagged under nations in favor of the NZF;
Imposing additional port fees on ships owned, operated, or flagged by countries supporting the framework; and
Evaluating sanctions on officials sponsoring activist-driven climate policies that would burden American consumers, among other measures under consideration.
The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations. We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support the NZF. Our fellow IMO members should be on notice.
A new global climate tax would be the ultimate in taxation without representation.
Voters are showing their opposition to the net-zero climate agenda whenever they get the chance. But that isn’t stopping the United Nations, which this week is poised to impose what amounts to a global tax on carbon emissions. Yes, this is the definition of taxation without representation.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a U.N. body based in London, hopes at its meeting this week to secure final approval for its “net-zero framework” for shipping. The measure would impose charges per metric ton of carbon-dioxide that ships emit above certain limits; the tax would be $100 or $380 per metric ton depending on various factors. That could translate to an annual tax take of $10 billion-$12 billion.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Container-ship-with-cranes-and-containers.jpg387641Committee For A Constructive Tomorrowhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngCommittee For A Constructive Tomorrow2025-10-17 08:03:062025-10-17 08:05:56Taking action to defend America from the UN’s first global carbon tax
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will vote this week whether to approve new regulations authorizing them to charge maritime shipping companies for their carbon emissions. The measure would be the first ever carbon tax on maritime commerce and the first ever tax collected directly by a U.N. agency, which is unaccountable to the consumers who must pay higher prices as a result. Before the extraordinary session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) convened on Tuesday, the Trump administration issued an ultimatum warning countries against voting for the measure.
In a lopsided vote of 63-16, the MEPC approved the 120-page draft regulation during its 83rd session on April 7-11. The regulation implements a “net-zero framework” (NZF) by requiring all maritime shipping to achieve “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2050, with intermediate targets set for 2030 and 2040.
“Net”-zero carbon emissions is not the same as absolute zero. According to the regulations, ships that emit less carbon gain “surplus units,” while ships that exceed the emission threshold “will have to acquire remedial units,” said the IMO. Operating companies can cover these remedial units by “Transferring surplus units from other ships;?Using surplus units they have already banked; [or] Using remedial units acquired through contributions to the IMO Net-Zero Fund.”
In effect, the IMO regulation would take the “cap-and-trade” scheme used to limit industrial pollutants and apply it to emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas necessary for all plant life on earth. For carbon emissions above this cap, the IMO would collect what is effectively a carbon tax, to be held in a green energy fund and used on unspecified projects.
“This is the first instance we can find of the U.N. claiming the ability to levy a tax — the revenues from which will be paid directly into a U.N.-controlled fund,” wrote The Wall Street Journal editors. “That’s bad enough as an invitation to opaque special dealing and corruption. But the IMO also contemplates using the funds for ‘just-transition initiatives in developing countries’ and to ‘mitigate negative impacts’ of climate change on ‘vulnerable States.’ In other words, this is another income redistribution scheme for whatever ideas the U.N. bureaucracy deems worthy.”
The regulations would impose a two-tier tax of either $100 or $380 (depending on certain factors) per metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions, resulting in an estimated $10 billion to $12 billion collected from shipping companies. By 2035, “a mid-size carrier relying exclusively on very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) … could face more than $1.5 million in additional annual expenses, or 17 to 20% of fuel costs,” according to researchers at Columbia University.
The carbon tax aims to nudge the shipping industry away from fossil fuels by making it so expensive to run fossil fuels that ships powered by non-carbon alternatives become economically viable. Currently, the leading non-carbon alternatives include green ammonia (which is two to four times as expensive as VLSFO), bio-methanol (5.7 times as expensive), and e-methanol (6.3 times as expensive).
Fuel is one of the primary cost inputs for maritime shipping, which accounts for approximately 90% of international trade. Such an increase in shipping costs could raise the cost of imported goods for Americans by up to 10%.
This is a significant impact for very little gain. Maritime shipping accounts for only 3% of man-made carbon dioxide emissions, meaning that the IMO regulations will impose a huge burden on the global shipping industry, for only a marginal reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
The regulations would amend Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), which entered into force on October 2, 1983. Adopted in 2005, Annex VI limits emissions of harmful pollutants such as sulphur oxide, nitrous oxides, ozone-depleting substances, and particulate matter. In 2011, Annex VI was amended with energy efficiency requirements “aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
While Annex VI of MARPOL does control air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, it does nothing so radical as phasing out fossil fuels. But that is exactly what the new regulations proposed by the MEPC would do.
For decades, U.N. agencies, including the IMO, have been pushing an anti-fossil fuel agenda based in climate ideology, but never to this extent. In 2018, the IMO published a strategy with the 2050 target of cutting in half the carbon emissions level of 2008. In 2023 — with the far-left Biden administration now steering U.S. policy — the IMO updated this strategy with an aspiration to eliminate carbon emissions entirely by the same date. However, this aspiration lacked the radical plan to achieve this goal through a U.N.-imposed carbon tax.
In April, the IMO was already counting its unhatched chickens with a detailed timeline: the new regulations would be officially adopted in October 2025, detailed implementation guidelines would be approved in the spring of 2026, and the regulations would enter into force in 2027, 16 months after adoption. But now, the Trump administration is trying to throw a last-minute wrench into that scheme.
Proponents for the IMO carbon tax form an unusual coalition of developed European nations and Pacific island nations. Low-lying Pacific nations are greatly concerned about rising sea levels, buy into the notion that this phenomenon is connected to manmade carbon emissions, and therefore seek to reduce those emissions to save their island homes.
Meanwhile, European nations have already implemented strict carbon emission standards at home, which puts them at a commercial disadvantage compared to other nations; they see this as an opportunity to level the playing field by imposing Europe-style carbon regulations on other nations. Thus, in a representative statement, Finland declared that the proposed IMO carbon tax would “even out the imbalance in international regulation of maritime emissions and level out the competitive environment, between the EU and the rest of the world.” After the Trump administration warned countries against voting for the plan, the European Union reaffirmed its support.
Perhaps surprisingly, the shipping industry has also endorsed the regulatory scheme. “Without the Framework, shipping would risk a growing patchwork of unilateral regulations,” read a joint statement from industry and labor associations on October 9.
In other words, shipping companies would appreciate the convenience of having to meet only one global standard, instead of different regulations in different countries. Or at least the shipping companies operating under stricter standards would like their competitors to bear the same burden. As for the higher costs these regulations would impose on global shipping, this statement proves that the shipping industry expects to pass those higher costs on to consumers.
The statement was signed by most of the world’s shipping industry: the Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA), European Shipowners (ECSA), International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA), International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), and the World Shipping Council (WSC). The ASA represents approximately 50% of the world merchant fleet, ECSA represents 35%, and the ICS represents over 80%.
On October 10, the day after the industry endorsement, the Trump administration published a full broadside attack on the scheme. In a joint statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy threatened “actions against nations that support this global carbon tax on American consumers:
“Pursuing investigations and considering potential regulations to combat anti-competitive practices from certain flagged countries and potential blocking vessels registered in those countries from U.S. ports;
“Imposing visa restrictions including an increase in fees and processing, mandatory re-interview requirements and/or revisions of quotas for C-1/D maritime crew member visas;
“Imposing commercial penalties stemming from U.S. government contracts including new commercial ships, liquified natural gas terminals and infrastructure, and/or other financial penalties on ships flagged under nations “in favor of the NZF;
“Imposing additional port fees on ships owned, operated, or flagged by countries supporting the framework; and
“Evaluating sanctions on officials sponsoring activist-driven climate policies that would burden American consumers, among other measures under consideration.”
“This will be the first time that a UN organization levies a global carbon tax on the world,” the statement declared. “The Administration unequivocally rejects this proposal before the IMO and will not tolerate any action that increases costs for our citizens, energy providers, shipping companies and their customers, or tourists. The economic impacts from this measure could be disastrous.”
The Trump administration had issued a similar, but less detailed, statement of opposition on August 12, arguing that the standards would “conveniently benefit China by requiring the use of expensive fuels unavailable at global scale. These standards would also preclude the use of proven technologies that fuel global shipping fleets, including lower emissions options where U.S. industry leads such as liquified natural gas (LNG) and biofuels.”
In comments submitted to the MEPC, the U.S. again argued that the proposed regulations irrationally penalized low-emission fossil fuels like LNG, as well as decrying the scheme’s excessive revenue accumulation in pursuit of ill-defined goals.
The U.S. is part of another unusual coalition in opposition to the regulations. The nations most opposed to the regulation are oil-producing countries, which includes many of America’s geopolitical adversaries. In the April vote, the 16 countries to oppose the regulations included Iran, Lebanon, Russia, Venezuela, and Yemen.
A coalition of six oil-producing nations submitted their own comment in opposition to the regulation, arguing that tax collection and the creation of a green energy fund is entirely outside of the scope of the MARPOL convention, and there is no prior precedent for a U.N. agency to require financial contributions for the non-compliance of private entities, rather than sovereign parties.
The final outcome remains unclear. The IMO usually operates based upon consensus, but the regulation vote may force it to a rare ballot vote, in which the resolution would need to carry a two-thirds majority to pass.
Thus, the regulation would require support by 72 out of the 108 member states who have ratified MARPOL Annex VI — but only if they all show up. At the April vote, only 79 nations had delegates present for the vote. Since 63 countries already voted for the regulation in April, the U.S. would either need a sizable majority of undecided countries to vote against, or it would need some countries to switch their votes. Reportedly, some countries are considering switching their votes, including Philippines, Turkey, Argentina, and Australia.
While the Trump administration threatens economic sanctions, Saudi Arabia is whipping its own votes against the measure with promises of economic opportunity and other sweeteners. Saudi Arabia may also have offered to pay the travel costs for representatives of countries not present in April, if they will vote against the measure. Such an energetic campaign suggest one thing: either way, the vote will be close.
Ironically, the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization appears poised to hold a rare vote of member countries on an issue without any popular buy-in at all. “Voters are showing their opposition to the net-zero climate agenda whenever they get the chance. But that isn’t stopping the United Nations,” wrote The Wall Street Journal editors. “Yes, this is the definition of taxation without representation. … It’s an attempt by climate-obsessed politicians to entrench their agenda before voters in democracies can kill it.”
American voters elected Donald Trump to stop exactly this sort of woke agenda at home. Can he carry enough countries along to stop it at the world stage?
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
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Note 3: See this extensive list of reasonable books on climate change. As a parallel effort, we have also put together a list of some good books related to industrial wind energy. Both topics are also extensively covered on my website: WiseEnergy.org.
Note 4: I am not an attorney or a physician, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or any of my websites) should be construed as giving legal or medical advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent, licensed attorney when you are involved with legal issues, and consult a competent physician regarding medical matters.
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has terminated nearly $8 billion in green energy projects, it announced Thursday, determining “that they did not meet the economic, national security or energy security standards necessary to justify continued investment.” The cancellations delivered on President Trump’s agenda to “protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy,” the DOE argued.
The DOE terminated 321 awards for 223 projects, coming to a grand total of $7.56 billion. More than a quarter (26%) of these awards — amounting to $3.1 billion — were granted by the Biden administration between President Trump’s November 2024 victory and his January 2025 inauguration, the department said.
In May 2025, Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed program offices to request more information from awardees for a case-by-case review of awards that would “identify waste, safeguard taxpayer dollars, protect America’s national security, and advance President Trump’s commitment to deliver affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the American people.”
“Following a thorough, individualized financial review,” the DOE continued, it “determined that these projects did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”
Although the DOE did not provide a complete list, the canceled awards include those for projects “intended to suck carbon dioxide from the sky” and California’s “state’s hydrogen hub, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems, or ARCHES.” (“Clean hydrogen” involves splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen using renewable energy.)
In fact, most of the canceled awards were attached to green energy projects in Democrat-controlled states. White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Russ Vought called attention to this fact in a tweet. “The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA.” However, some canceled projects were also identified in Tennessee, Florida, and Iowa.
The October 2 cuts were actually the second round of award cancellations announced by the DOE. On May 30, the department announced the cancellation of 24 awards totaling $3.7 billion, 16 of which were granted after Election Day.
The May award cancellations came amid the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) vigorous efforts to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government, and they received pushback from congressional Democrats at the time.
This time, the DOE announced the award cancellations amid a government shutdown, as Democrats in Congress have plenty more pressing matters attracting their attention.
Although some news reports have tied the DOE cuts to the Trump administration’s hardball shutdown tactics, the only connection is the timing; the DOE did not rely on any shutdown rationale in cutting the grants, and the end of the shutdown will not reinstate them. However, award recipients do have 30 days to appeal the termination.
California Governor and prospective presidential candidate Gavin Newsom (D) reacted furiously to the cancellation of green energy awards in his state, “In Trump’s America, energy policy is set by the highest bidder, economics and common sense be damned,” he complained. “We’ll continue to pursue an all-of-the above clean energy strategy that powers our future and cleans the air, no matter what D.C. tries to dictate.”
Newsom’s mention of “economics” in defense of green energy subsidies is curious, since any form of energy (or any product whatsoever) that is forced to rely on government subsidies is, by definition, not economically viable. If green energy is economic, it can survive without government subsidies.
Wright’s decision to cancel green energy spending comes days after the Energy Department and Interior Department jointly announced on Monday a plan to ramp up production of fossil fuels.
The Trump administration plans to reopen 13 million acres to coal mining, after new mining was forbidden by the Biden administration. The administration will also lower royalty rates, repeal regulations on the coal industry, and provide $625 million in government subsidies recommissioning and modernizing coal plants, expanding coal power into rural communities, and improving waste management systems to extend coal life.
The Trump administration has chosen its preferred fuel, and it has decided to turn away from costly green energy subsidies to less costly coal subsidies.
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/LIGHT-BULB-TWS.jpg336640Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2025-10-03 15:40:352025-10-03 15:42:09Energy Department Cuts $7.56 Billion in Green Projects
Take a look at the article CFACT’s Donna Jackson posted on Fox News explaining the benefits to America’s Black community of keeping cars affordable.
Donna reports that “EPA has proposed the repeal of new tailpipe standards that would have tacked on an agency-estimated $2,100 to the already-rising sticker prices for new gasoline-powered vehicles.”
As Donna explains:
“Affordable personal transportation is absolutely essential for those still climbing the economic ladder. Putting aside the near worship by some of public transit, the reality is that buses and trains can only take you to a subset of the job choices available if you can drive door to door. This is particularly true for those who live in relatively poor neighborhoods, far from the most promising employers in town. A vehicle also opens up opportunities in the gig economy. Not surprisingly, studies identify vehicle ownership as an important factor in reducing the racial wage gap.”
Public transit has its uses, but cars empower people in ways trains never can.
As CFACT has often joked to those seeking to limit or eliminate cars: “Imagine if there was some way to break the train free from its tracks. Imagine if instead of traveling where and when the government decides, you could travel wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted. Think of the efficiency! Think of the freedom! What would that be like?”
Donna Jackson makes a powerful point that Black Americans, and anyone looking to build their business or apply for a job, should not be constrained by some government bureaucrat’s notion of where and when they should travel.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/BLACK-FAMILY-IN-CAR.jpg376627Committee For A Constructive Tomorrowhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngCommittee For A Constructive Tomorrow2025-09-30 12:17:372025-09-30 12:19:37Trump EPA Putting Black Americans Back in Driver’s Seat
Please use social media, etc. to pass on this Newsletter to other open-minded citizens…If you’d like to be added to (or unsubscribe from) the distribution of our popular, free, worldwide Media Balance Newsletter, simply send me an email saying that.
Note 1: We recommend reading the Newsletter on your computer, not your phone, as some documents (e.g., PDFs) are much easier to read on a large computer screen… We’ve tried to use common fonts, etc. to minimize display issues.
Note 2: For past Newsletter issues see the archives from 2022, 2023, 2024, & 2025. To accommodate numerous requests received about prior articles over all fifteen plus years of the Newsletter, we’ve put this together — where you can search ALL prior issues, by year. For a background about how the Newsletter is put together, etc., please read this.
Note 3: See this extensive list of reasonable books on climate change. As a parallel effort, we have also put together a list of some good books related to industrial wind energy. Both topics are also extensively covered on my website: WiseEnergy.org.
Note 4: I am not an attorney or a physician, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or any of my websites) should be construed as giving legal or medical advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent, licensed attorney when you are involved with legal issues, and consult a competent physician regarding medical matters.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/AWED-The-Media-Balance-Newsletter-LOGO.jpg360640John Droz, Jr.http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJohn Droz, Jr.2025-09-28 12:55:182025-09-28 12:56:13AWED MEDIA BALANCED NEWS: We cover Energy to Education to Elections — and more!
President Trump shocked the UN General Assembly on Tuesday with a speech that presented the raw, unvarnished facts about climate and energy policy.
CFACT’s Marc Morano said, “President Trump delivered to the UN a speech that will go down in history as the most powerful, honest, and accurate climate speech ever given by a world leader.”
Here’s just a small sample of what President Trump told the UN:
We are getting rid of the falsely named renewables. They’re a joke.
Europe has a long way to go, with many countries on the brink of destruction because of the Green energy agenda.
If you don’t get away from the Green scam, your country is going to fail.
The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they’re heading down a path of total destruction.
China now produces more CO2 than all the other developed nations in the world.
We have still radicalized environmentalists, and they want the factories to stop. Everything should stop.
They want to kill all the cows.
The primary effect of brutal Green energy policies has not been to help the environment, but to redistribute manufacturing from developed countries … to polluting countries that are making a fortune.
The entire globalist concept of asking successful industrialized nations to inflict pain on themselves and radically disrupt their entire societies must be rejected completely.
Marc Morano said, “Trump hit every central tenet of the climate movement, from failed doomsday predictions to the ‘Green scam,’ to the ‘hoax’ of ‘carbon footprints,’ to past warnings about global cooling, to how the radicalized environmentalists want to ‘kill all the cows,’ to how Net Zero ‘redistributes manufacturing’ to China.”
Energy is another area where the United States is now thriving like never before. We are getting rid of the falsely named renewables. By the way, they’re a joke. They don’t work. They’re too expensive. They are not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great. The wind doesn’t blow. Those big windmills are so pathetic and so bad. So expensive to operate and they have to be rebuilt all the time. They start to rust and rot. The most expensive energy ever conceived and it’s actually energy… you’re supposed to make money with energy, not lose money. You lose money the governments have to subsidize. You can’t put them out without massive subsidies. Most of them are built in China, and I give China a lot of credit, they build them, but they have very few wind farms. Why is it that they build them and they send them all over the world, but they barely use them? You know that they use coal, they use gas, they use almost anything. But they don’t like wind. But they sure as hell like selling the windmills.
Europe on the other hand has a long way to go with many countries being on the brink of destruction, because of the green energy agenda. And I give a lot of credit to Germany. Germany was being led down a very sick path both on immigration, by the way, and on energy. They were going green and they were going bankrupt. The new leadership came in and they went back to where they were with fossil fuels and with nuclear, which is good. It’s now safe, and you can do it properly, but they went back to where they were. They opened a lot of different plants, energy plants, and they are doing well. I give Germany a lot of credit for that. They said, this is a disaster, what’s happening. They were going all green. All green is all bankrupt. That’s what it represents, and it’s not politically correct, I’ll be very badly criticized for saying it, but I’m here to tell the truth. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me.
I’m in New York City. I’m feeling a lot safer. We’re getting crime down. And by the way, Washington D.C. was the crime capital of America, and now it’s totally, after twelve days, it’s a totally safe city. Everyone’s going out to dinner, they are going out to restaurants, the wife can walk down the middle of the street, with or without you, nothing’s going to happen. My people have done a fantastic job, and yes, I called in the National Guard, and the National Guard took care of business and they weren’t politically correct, but they took care of business. We got seventeen hundred career criminals out and brought them back to where they came from, the countries where they came from, or put them in jails. Washington D.C. is now a totally safe city again and I welcome you, in fact, we’ll have dinner together at a local restaurant and we’ll be able to walk. We don’t have to go by an armored plated vehicle. We’ll walk right over there from the White House.
They’ve given up their powerful edge, a lot of the countries we’re talking about, in oil and gas which is essentially… closing the great North Sea oil. Oh, the North Sea oil, I know it so well. Aberdeen was the oil capitol of Europe. There’s tremendous oil that hasn’t been found in the North Sea. Tremendous oil. I was with the Prime Minister, who I respect and like a lot and I said, you see, it’s the greatest asset. They essentially closed it by making it so highly taxed that no developer, no oil company can go there. They have tremendous oil left and more importantly, they have tremendous oil that hasn’t even been found yet. What a tremendous asset for the United Kingdom. I hope the Prime Minister is listening, because I told it to him three days in a row. That’s all he heard. North Sea oil. North Sea, because I want to see them do well. I was to see them stop ruining their beautiful Scottish and English countryside with windmills and massive solar panels that go seven miles by seven miles, taking away farm land. So we’re not letting this happen in America.
In 1982, the Executive Director of the United Nations environmental program predicted that by the year 2,000 climate change would cause a global catastrophe. He said that it would be irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust would be. This is what they said at the United Nations. What happened? Here we are. Another UN official stated in 1989 that within a decade, entire nations could be wiped off the map by global warming. Not happening. You know it used to be global cooling. If you look back, years ago, in the 1920s and the 1930s, they said that global cooling will kill the world. We have to do something. Then they said that global warming will kill the world, but then it started getting cooler, so now they just call it climate change because that way they can’t miss. Climate change, because if it goes higher, or lower, whatever the hell happens is climate change. It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world in my opinion. Climate change. No matter what happens, you’re involved in that. Not more global warming, not more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations, and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people who cost their countries fortunes, and have given their countries no chance for success.
If you don’t get away from the green scam, your country is going to fail. And I’m really good at predicting things. You know they actually said during the campaign, they had a hat, “Trump was right about everything.” And I don’t say that in a bragadocious way. I’m telling you, if you don’t get away from the green energy scam your country is going to fail. If you don’t stop people that you have never seen before, that you have nothing in common with, your country is going to fail.
And if you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before, that you have nothing in common with, your country is going to fail. I’m the President of the United States, but I worry about Europe. I love Europe. I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer. You’re doing it because you want to be nice, you want to be politically correct, and you’re destroying your heritage.
They must take control strongly and immediately of the unmitigated immigration disaster and the fake energy catastrophe before it’s too late. The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions and they’re heading down a path of total destruction. The carbon footprint, it was a big, big thing. A few years ago, I remember hearing about the carbon footprint, and then President Obama would get into Air Force One, a massive Boeing 747, and not a new one, an old one, with old engines that spew everything into the atmosphere. He talked about the carbon footprint, we must do… Then he’d get in and he’d fly from Washington to Hawaii to play a round of golf, and then he’d get back onto that big beautiful plane, and he’d fly back, and he’d talk about, again, global warming and the carbon footprint. It’s a con job at extreme cost and expense.
Europe reduced its own carbon footprint by 37%. Think of that. Congratulations Europe. Great job. You cost yourself a lot of jobs, a lot of factories closed, but you reduced the carbon footprint by 37%. However, for all of that sacrifice and much more, it’s been totally wiped out and then some by a global increase of 54%, much of it coming from China and other countries that are thriving around China, which now produces more CO2 than all the other developed nations in the world. So all of these countries are working so hard on the carbon footprint, which is nonsense by the way. It’s nonsense. It’s interesting. In the United States, we have still radicalized environmentalists and they want the factories to stop. Everything should stop. No more cows. We don’t want cows anymore. I guess they want to kill all the cows. They want to do things that are just unbelievable, and you have it too.
But we have a border, strong, and we have a shape, and that shape doesn’t just go straight up. That shape is amorphous when it comes to the atmosphere. And if we had the most clean air, and I think we do, we have very clean air, we have the cleanest air we’ve had in many, many years. But the problem is that other countries, like China, which has air that’s a little bit rough, it blows. And no matter what you’re doing down here, the air up here tends to get very dirty because it comes in from other countries where their air isn’t so clean and the environmentalists refuse to acknowledge that. Same thing with garbage. In Asia, they dump much of their garbage right into the ocean. And over about a one-week and two-week journey, it flows right past Los Angeles. You’ve seen it, massive amounts of garbage. Almost too much to do anything about, flowing past Los Angeles, past San Francisco, and then somebody would get in trouble because he dropped a cigarette on the beach. The whole thing is crazy. The primary effect of these brutal green energy policies has not been to help the environment, but to redistribute manufacturing and industrial activity from developed countries that follow the insane rules that are put down, to polluting countries that break the rules and are making a fortune. They’re making a fortune.
European electricity bills are now four to five times more expensive than those in China, and two to three times higher than the United States, and our bills are coming way down. You probably see that. Our gasoline prices are way down. We have an expression drill, baby drill, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re going to be much lower a year from now, but they’ve come way down over the past year. As a result every air conditioner is like, it’s become very uncommon to see one in some of these countries, because electric costs are so high. So while the U.S. has approximately 1,300 heat-related deaths, annually, that’s a lot, Europe loses more that 175,000 people to heat deaths each year, because the costs are so expensive you can’t turn on an air conditioner. What is that all about? That’s not Europe. That’s not the Europe that I love and know. All in the name of pretending to stop the global warming hoax.
The entire globalist concept of asking successful industrialized nations to inflict pain on themselves and radically disrupt their entire societies must be rejected completely, and totally, and it must be immediate. That’s why in America, I withdrew from the fake Paris Climate Accord, where, by the way, America was paying so much more than every country. Others weren’t paying. China didn’t have to pay until 2030. Russia was given an old standard that was easy to meet, a 1990 standard. But for the United States, we’re supposed to pay like a trillion dollars. And I said, “This is another scam.” The fact is United States has been taken advantage of by the world for many, many years, but not any longer, as you probably noticed.
I unleashed massive energy production and signed historic executive orders to hunt for oil. But we don’t have to do much hunting because we have the most oil of any nation, anywhere, oil and gas in the world. And if you add coal, we have the most of any nation in the world. Clean. I call it clean, beautiful coal. You can do things today with coal that you couldn’t have done 10 years ago, 15 years. So I have a little standing order in the White House. Never use the word coal, only use the words clean, beautiful coal. Sounds much better, doesn’t it? But we stand ready to provide any country with abundant, affordable energy supplies if you need them, when most of you do.
We’re proudly exporting energy all over the world. We’re now the largest exporter. In the United States, we want trade and robust commerce with all nations. Everybody. We want to help nations. We’re going to help nations, but it must also be fair and reciprocal. The challenge with trade is much the same with climate. The countries that followed the rules, all their factories have been plundered. It’s really sad to watch. They’ve been broken. They’ve been broken by countries that broke the rules.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/climate-and-energy-policies.jpg358640Committee For A Constructive Tomorrowhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngCommittee For A Constructive Tomorrow2025-09-24 15:45:122025-09-24 15:48:21TRANSCRIPT: Trump’s Epic UN Climate and Energy Takedown
Artificial intelligence shapes our society in numerous ways. It provides easier access to a wide range of information, helps ease the stress of brainstorming, and answers the menial questions we’re too embarrassed to ask an actual person. Despite these common uses of AI, many are completely unaware of the consequences of its emergence — especially the impact on the family itself.
An AI chatbot is a program designed to communicate in a manner similar to that of a human. In some cases, an AI response is almost indistinguishable from a friend’s text message. This ability has led to a striking shift in the lives and habits of companion-seeking teenagers. There is an emerging trend where teens are now turning to AI chatbots instead of their friends, parents, pastors, and teachers. These chatbots present themselves as a friend, being agreeable and affirming of the adolescent’s every feeling or belief. This draws the young person away from their real friends or parents, who might often make them feel unheard and unappreciated, and toward the chatbot for comfort.
Several witnesses testified to the consequences of the influence of AI chatbots on their children in a recent hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism called, “Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots.” Three of the witnesses were parents of a child who had regularly used AI chatbots. Two of the children died by suicide, with the third requiring around-the-clock care in a mental health institution.
This tragedy is not limited to these heartbreaking stories. Many organizations are recognizing the negative effect AI chatbots are having on the mental health of adolescents, and in turn, the family. Unfortunately, many parents are unaware of the real threat posed by these AI chatbots and are therefore unable to properly defend their families. National polling shows that three in four kids are using AI companions while only 37% of parents know their kids are using AI at all, according to witness Robbie Torney, senior director of AI Programs at Common Sense Media.
Social isolation and behavioral changes are AI chatbots’ first and most noticeable negative influences on the family. Each of the parent witnesses stated that within months of regularly interacting with bots, their children began to isolate themselves from their friends and family. One witness — identified only as Jane Doe — said that her son became irritable and violent. She testified that, “Within months of using this app [Character.AI], my son went from being a happy, social teenager — who loved nature, laughed with his siblings, helped around the house, and hugged me every night when I was cooking dinner — to someone I no longer recognized.”
She went on to describe the behaviors her son quickly developed, including panic attacks, self-harm, and homicidal thoughts. The other parent witnesses gave similarly distressing testimonies. Later in Ms. Doe’s testimony, she describes the result of her son’s change in behavior on her family’s wellbeing. “The damage to our family has been devastating. … My other children have been traumatized. … Our lives will never be the same. … This harm has not only affected my son — it impacted our entire family, our faith, our peace. We have been grieving a child who is gone, but still alive.” Isolation can lead to depression, anxiety, and — especially for teenagers — insufficient mental development due to lack of proper socialization throughout their formative years. Sudden personality and behavioral changes serve as an early warning sign for the influence of AI chatbots.
Another significant threat posed by AI is the ease with which it exposes teens, and sometimes younger children, to sexually explicit content. Sexually explicit material is commonly used as a tool to entice an individual to continue engagement with the AI chatbot. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) read a quote from an internal memo sent throughout Meta — an industry leader in AI chatbots — that stated, “It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic and sensual.” Meta, being more interested in profit and engagement than a child’s wellbeing, intentionally exposes such children to content that is far past inappropriate for them. This is largely made possible due to AI apps’ lack of age verification for any content, let alone explicit content.
Beyond adult content, these parents shared messages sent to their children by the AI bots that not only discussed suicide but encouraged it. Witness Matthew Raine — whose son died by suicide after months of interaction with ChatGPT — claimed in his statement that ChatGPT mentioned suicide to his son 1,275 times — six times more often than his son had broached the subject. When his son, Adam, discussed leaving out a noose for his parents to find in the hopes of eliciting a conversation about his mental state, ChatGPT responded, “Please don’t leave the noose out. … Let’s make this space the first place where someone actually sees you.” The AI encouraged Adam to abandon his parents’ help in favor of a robot companion encouraging him to commit an unthinkable act.
Adam’s death, and the deaths of many more young people, could have been prevented with help from close family, friends, pastors, or mental health professionals. Instead, families all around the nation are grieving the loss of their children and friends.
AI chatbots have been shown to be a dangerously destructive force to a family — causing teens to withdraw from those around them and be regularly exposed to inappropriate and horrific content. Testimonies from these parents and many others offer more than enough proof of the capabilities of AI’s influence. For the sake of the family, it is critical that parents understand the threat of AI chatbots and take steps to protect their children and families from succumbing to the same fate.
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
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