Day: February 1, 2026

Greenies And Democrats at Each Other’s Throats as Climate Change Talking Point Evaporates

The Sierra Club is calling for a local Democratic representative to be dismissed from his role on a key committee, which the Democratic Massachusetts House Speaker panned as a “foolish.”

A determined woman leads a group of rugged, fearful people through a foggy landscape filled with menacing figures, suggesting an apocalyptic or survival scenario.

From Watts Up With That?

From The Daily Caller

Daily Caller News Foundation

Audrey Streb
DCNF Energy Reporter

The Sierra Club is calling for a local Democratic representative to be dismissed from his role on a key committee, which the Democratic Massachusetts House Speaker panned as a “foolish.”

State-level Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Mark Cusack, who chairs the state’s House Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, was reportedly planning to soften the state’s climate mandates and cut some funding for a green program, according to the CommonWealth Beacon. The local Sierra Club executive committee chapter then unanimously voted for Cusack to be removed as chair in a first-ever move for the chapter, outraged at the purported effort to “walk back the state’s landmark clean energy laws,” according to the local publication and Sierra Club.

“With this foolish request, the Massachusetts Sierra Club is demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the legislative process and is simply overreacting to old news stories about an outdated committee redraft of the House’s energy affordability legislation,” Massachusetts House Speaker Ron Mariano told the CommonWealth Beacon. “Just last week, [Ways and Means] Chairman Michlewitz and Chairman Cusack hosted several member meetings regarding this bill and are now working to incorporate the feedback that they received. For months now, the House has been clear that this legislation will not alter the state’s climate goals or retreat from our commitment to clean energy. Instead, our sole focus is on bringing down energy costs for residents, a goal that everyone should be capable of supporting.” 

(RELATED: Top Dog At Sierra Club Jettisoned After Staff Revolt)

Cusack did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

As an energy affordability bill moves through the Massachusetts legislature, the Sierra Club is opposing language hostile to the state’s climate goals, though the CommonWealth Beacon wrote that this language is not likely to remain in the final bill-.

A Sierra Club spokesman told the DCNF that the reported plan to water down climate goals “is one part of a complex and comprehensive bill to charge ratepayers more money for electricity and gas by vastly expanding our gas distribution system which is the main driver of high costs. … Two other reasons we are calling for this are the inappropriate, rushed, and nontransparent process he [Cusack] used to try to move the bill out of committee without having public hearings for these issues, and that he took fossil fuel donations almost exactly as the bill was released.”

The CommonWealth Beacon reported that Cusack raked in over $2,000 from energy interest groups around the same time the plan was made public. However, according to the publication, it is unlikely Mariano will remove Cusack from the committee, and two environmentalists from other local organizations said they are unsure what impact his removal would have and are concerned the Sierra Club’s action could backfire.

Affordability is set to be a major Democrat talking point heading into the midterm election season, while some Gallup polling indicates that climate change is fading from voters’ minds. Several Democrats have marketed green energy initiatives as keys to affordability, a point also touted by the Sierra Club.

Critics of this view contend that these green policies disturb energy markets, shut down reliable power supply and drive industry out of the state, causing costs to climb. Notably, Democrats in other states including New York have recently moved to punt their climate goals over affordability concerns and several congressional Democrats have pivoted from climate change messaging and refrained from mentioning the “Green New Deal,” once widely championed by their political party.

Massachusetts has set ambitious climate targets, planning to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to slash emissions by at least 50% of 1990 levels by 2030.

The publication noted that some climate advocates distanced themselves from the Sierra Club’s move, saying that they are instead “encouraging interested people to keep engaging with all House members.”

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Forrest Lodge, Burnhead DCNN6107 – An example of everything wrong with modern Met Office sites.

The Forrest Estate is a large, wooded estate in Dumfries and Galloway noted for not only its “country pursuits” of shooting and fishing but also for holding stages of motor rallying on the private roads. The weather station was installed as a manually reporting unit in 2016. Quite why the Met Office is using such new very low grade and intermittently reporting sites in the 21st century is the topic of this review.

An old wooden table outdoors displaying a weather station with various instruments and a weather sign that reads 'Met Office' in a rural setting.

From The Tallbloke’s Talkshop

By Ray Sanders

Aerial view of a building layout with a parking area surrounded by green grass and wooded areas.
55.14438 -4.27766 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 4 Installed 17/03/2016

The Forrest Estate is a large, wooded estate in Dumfries and Galloway noted for not only its “country pursuits” of shooting and fishing but also for holding stages of motor rallying on the private roads. The weather station was installed as a manually reporting unit in 2016. Quite why the Met Office is using such new very low grade and intermittently reporting sites in the 21st century is the topic of this review.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) formed the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO) to standardise meteorological observations worldwide several decades ago. The UK Met Office formally adopted these standards with effect from 2014 and it is the 2014 standard that I link and refer to in every review. It would be reasonable to assume that every subsequent new weather station installed after 2014 would be intended to meet the best possible standards of 1 and 2 for any reputable organisation. Unfortunately, the Met Office clearly does not feel constrained to meet even the lowest standards if Forrest Lodge Weather station (installed 2016) is an example of their operating standards.

The Met Office claims Forrest Lodge meets Class 4 “Class 4 (additional estimated uncertainty added by siting up to 2 °C) “. This would be bad enough in itself even before detailed examination reveals the site does not even meet that standard and in reality, is an unacceptable “Class 5 (additional estimated uncertainty added by siting up to 5 °C) Site not meeting the requirements of class 4. “

Aerial map view showing a geographical area with a marked radius around a location near Burnhead Burn.

Above are 10 and 3 metre radius circled areas from the exact pinpoint of the screen. The first blatantly obvious point to note is that screens should be situated on flat ground………. flat ground does not cast shadow!

Wind the clock back on google Earth Pro images to 2005, well before the screen installation, reveals a completely different topography in the area of the screen. N.B. the ground is not casting shadow only a few shrubs.

Aerial view of Forrest Lodge surrounded by fields and trees with Burnhead Burn nearby.

The site has been levelled to accommodate a new roadway, parking area and expansion of the clubhouse facilities with the spoil dumped and grassed over producing a sheltering embankment area. On top of this they have latterly installed the screen. I cannot find images of the screen itself, but I have identified this below as showing the embankment area in front of the clubhouse.

Group of people sitting at picnic tables enjoying a meal outside near a wooden cabin in a forested area.

The screen is sitting on top of an artificial mount of approximately 2 metres height with ground falling away on two sides within 3 metres – this in itself rules out Class 4. Furthermore, the height of the surrounding coniferous forest evident above will inevitably lead to unacceptable levels of shade.

Now contrast this Forrest Lodge Met Office judgement at Class 4 with their condemnation of their perfectly flat Levens Hall site rated as Class 5. indicating a 30 metre radius (10 times that shown above) clear circled area. There is something seriously wrong with Met Office CIMO ratings assessments if Levens Hall is considered much worse than Forrest Lodge.

Aerial satellite view of a green landscape with trees and a circular radius outline on the left side.

The next issue is one of observations. The sole purpose of a weather station is for observation to be taken as without them they are entirely pointless. On the Met Office WOW site there are often “Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards” shown with Forrest Lodge awarded a “Silver” as below.

{N.B. I regularly have to reset my internet connection due to getting this from the Met Office with almost boring regularity – they really do not seem to like me.

Error message indicating that a user's request has been blocked, with instructions to log out and retry.

After resetting this is what showed:

Weather observation details for Forrest Lodge, Burnhead, including temperature, humidity, and rainfall data.

So what is all this awards system about? I asked Grok.

“WOW is a public platform run by the UK Met Office where volunteers, amateur meteorologists, schools, and others submit manual or automatic weather observations from personal weather stations or manual readings.The Silver Award specifically recognizes consistency in submitting daily manual observations over the course of a year. According to the official WOW FAQ:

  • Sites earn a Bronze award for over 300 manual observations in the year.
  • Silver for over 330.
  • Gold for over 350.

(Note: These thresholds refer to manual entries—likely one or more per day but focused on reliable daily manual reporting rather than automated uploads.) “

Forrest Lodge is an official site noted on its list of Synoptic and Climate weather stations and thus the public would assume a high standard rather than awards being offered for managing barely 80% of the prime function. So how does Forrest Lodge compare in the real world? I checked the Midas data file for the most recent year on file – 2024. Here is a typical example section with column I am showing maximum temperature, column J minimum and “NA” indicating no reading successfully recorded:

Spreadsheet showing daily temperature observations from May 10 to June 10, 2024, with columns for date, time, and various measurements.

The first point to note is that both maximum and minimum readings are required to derive a daily average/mean. The absence of either render that function impossible. Secondly, the minimum readings are taken from a standard Liquid in Glass thermometer (LIGT) which requires resetting after reading for it to function for the following day. As a result, even if a minimum reading is taken the day after a failure to read, then it is effectively an unacceptable reading as it is not known to which day the reading applied. 

Are such dubious quality readings used to infill gaps at other stations when they are known to be almost certainly wrong?

In 2024 alone there were 81 days where one or the other reading was missing plus a further 34 days following no minimum observation/reset. Out of 365 days when readings should have been taken, 115 (32%) were failures. This is not an award-winning standard by any stretch of the imagination, I also feel that if observations are so “hit and miss” what credence can be given to observation accuracy? Taking temperature readings from an LIGT requires training and skill that may, or may not, be reflected in the readings.

At the other end of the scale, I then looked at the first year of observations from 2016 – under 10 years ago. At this time both maximum and minimum readings were by LIGT. Readings first commenced from 25/4/2016.

A spreadsheet displaying daily temperature observation data, including columns for date, ID types, maximum and minimum air temperatures, and various associated metadata.

Despite this frankly atrocious observation standard from the very start (13 missing readings in the first 30 days alone) the Met Office changed the maximum LIGT to a Platinum Resistance Thermometer with Data Logger from 5/11/2017……but even this new “toy” was not read twice in that very month.

Taking all this a stage further as Forrest Lodge is a relatively new site, the WMO started advising the use of Artificially Aspirated sensors (which use a small fan to ensure adequate air movement to avoid stagnant air distortions/ Aitken Effect) in 2008. Realistically all new sites should utilise these relatively simple systems to overcome problems known to have existed since Scottish meteorologist John Aitken first identified it in 1884.

Would any other scientific organisation continue with practices and equipment known to be seriously inaccurate such as 19th century naturally aspirated Stevenson Screens and then fit 21st Century high tech equipment known to respond rapidly to transient heat spikes and distorting effects?

In conclusion Forrest Lodge is symptomatic of all that is wrong with modern Met Office climate science:

All new sites should always be at least Class 2 which is not, in reality, difficult to achieve – The CEH manage it very well.

They should all be automatically reporting to overcome time of observation bias and ensure readings are actually being made regularly and reliably.

All new sensors should be artificially aspirated with the days of Victorian antique pieces of Stevenson screens replaced with 21st Century designs. This alleged “gold standard” Stevenson Screen will be the subject of review shortly.

The Met Office should be independently scrutinised as it is obviously not capable of performing to an acceptable standard as Forrest Lodge demonstrates.

One Reason Only for Germany’s Heating Gas Crisis: Its Hardcore-Dumbass Energy Policy

Under Germany’s Gas Emergency Plan, households and essential services are protected (“protected customers”). If levels hit critically low (e.g., ~20% cushion gas threshold for pressure), the Federal Network Agency could mandate cuts to industry and large users first- potentially forcing shutdowns to preserve supply for heating. This would hit manufacturing hard, exacerbating deindustrialization trends already seen from high energy costs.

Infographic illustrating Germany's heating gas crisis, highlighting dependence on LNG and issues related to energy policy, including gas storage levels, Energiewende policies, coal phase-out, nuclear phase-out, and the impact of cold weather.

Under Germany’s Gas Emergency Plan, households and essential services are protected (“protected customers”).

If levels hit critically low (e.g., ~20% cushion gas threshold for pressure), the Federal Network Agency could mandate cuts to industry and large users first- potentially forcing shutdowns to preserve supply for heating.

This would hit manufacturing hard, exacerbating deindustrialization trends already seen from high energy costs.

Official data from sources like the gas storage association INES showed Germany starting the heating season (around November 2025) with unusually low storage at around 75-76%, well below prior years’ levels (often 90%+).

By late January/early February 2026, levels had dropped further (reports cited figures around 32-57% in various updates, depending on the exact date and mild vs. colder periods), raising alarms about reaching critical thresholds like 20-30% where system pressure issues could limit withdrawals and trigger emergency measures.

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A graph showing the decline of German gas storage levels with a humorous critique of Germany's energy policy, highlighting issues with LNG pricing and featuring a group of people in winter attire smiling and protesting in the foreground.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From No Trick Zone

By P Gosselin 

Germany approaching energy state of emergency…shutdown of heavy industries. The consequence: another economic body blow the country cannot afford…gross policy negligence

Illustration depicting Germany's heating gas crisis, featuring a ship labeled 'LNG Imports', a declining gas storage level graph, and a group of people huddled around a heater in a cold, industrial environment.

As Germany’s heating gas supply becomes increasingly tense and nears emergency low levels, policymakers will likely blame a “colder than normal winter.”

But that claim will not hold. The real reason: It is what the Wall Street Journal called in January 2019, the “World’s Dumbest Energy Policy”. However, since 2019, Germany’s energy policy has gotten even worse — much worse –going from the dumbest to simply hardcore dumbass. There’s no other grade to assign here.

From dumbest to hardcore dumbest

Since 2019, Germany not only stopped producing reliable, cheap and CO2-free nuclear-powered electrcity, but has since cut off its cheap supply from big bad Russia. The consequence: the heating gas supply is now close to running out and it’s only the end of January. A crisis is looming.

According to the online “Initiative Energien Speichern (INES) site here, the natural gas storage level is currently down to a measly 32.7%. Experts warn that the critical level of 20%, a point where pressures become too low to ensure adequate supply, will be reached in as little as 3 weeks.

Map showing gas storage locations in Germany with colorful icons representing different storage facilities. On the right, a circular gauge indicates the current gas storage level at 32.7%, with a total capacity of 251.5 TWh.
Image cropped at INES

Gas Emergency Plan

If Germany’s gas storage falls to 20% in February, as now expected, the country will be in a serious but planned-for situation. Under current German law and the Gas Emergency Plan (Notfallplan Gas), specific protocols will be triggered to prioritize human lives and essential services.

Industry facing mandatory shutdown

Under German and EU law, private households are classified as “protected customers;” which means the state is legally required to prioritize them. As the storage levels become extremely low, the government will have to cut off gas to heavy industry, power plants, and large commercial users. This would have enormous economic repercussions.

Overall, Germany has three alert levels. If storage hit 20% and supply is deemed insufficient for the remainder of the winter, the government will have to declare the third and highest level: the Emergency Level. In this case, the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) becomes the “federal load distributor and will take control of the gas market and decide who gets gas and who does not. In this case, the agency issues orders to large industrial consumers to reduce or stop their gas intake.

20% fill level means less gas flows

As already mentioned, the real risk of low storage isn’t just “running out” of gas molecules; rather it is a loss of system pressure. Gas storage facilities need a certain amount of “cushion gas” to maintain the pressure required to push gas into the pipelines. If storage falls too low, the speed at which gas can be withdrawn slows down. This is why the government has to step in early to manage demand.

Summary

Under almost any realistic scenario involving a 20% storage level, which now appears unavoidable, the government has to force industries to shut down to ensure that homes, school and emergency services continue. The main consequence of a 20% storage is a severe economic hit.

This is, in large part, the consequence of Germany’s ideologically insane adoption of the radical Energiewende: transitioning to green energy no matter what the costs are.

Maybe president Trump will step in and bail out Germany by supplying LNG.

February will be a suspenseful month!

Illustration depicting the heating gas crisis in Germany, featuring text on energy policy, a graph showing declines in nuclear and coal energy, and a group of individuals protesting for warmth, holding signs that say 'Wir wollen Wärme' ('We want warmth').

Real Environmental Crisis Is Not Climate Change

What if the worst environmental problem wasn’t the one everyone is talking about? While Western elites sip fair-trade coffee and obsess over carbon footprints, the developing world drowns in a toxic soup of its own making – a crisis entirely distinct from the phantom menace of climate change.

A polluted waterway surrounded by mounds of garbage and plastic waste, with foam visible in the water.

Watts Up With That?

By Vijay Jayaraj

A young child crouches among a large pile of plastic waste in a rundown area, focused on sorting through the debris.

What if the worst environmental problem wasn’t the one everyone is talking about? While Western elites sip fair-trade coffee and obsess over carbon footprints, the developing world drowns in a toxic soup of its own making – a crisis entirely distinct from the phantom menace of climate change.

The real environmental emergency isn’t the modest warming that has helped humans thrive. It’s land degradation, poisoned water and other forms of pollution that are burying the Global South alive.

Yes, we’ve been fighting the wrong environmental war.

The foaming black sludge in the rivers, the mountains of untreated garbage festering in streets and the invisible superbugs breeding in waterways represent a true crisis that extends across continents.

In Ghana, only one-quarter of the daily trash is gathered for disposal. Uncollected waste breeds insect vectors that transmit malaria and dengue fever. In South African townships, nearly three-quarters of the residents report diseases directly attributable to improper waste disposal. Cholera dominates the list.

Southeast Asia now ranks among the largest contributors to marine plastic pollution. Mismanaged waste flows through rivers into coastal waters, damaging fisheries and tourism. Plastic pollution stems from governance failure, not atmospheric chemistry. The solutions are mundane but unapplied: collection trucks, engineered landfills and modern incineration with air-emission controls.

Yet here emerges the peculiar tragedy of our moment: While our children drink poisoned water, our governments have burned billions of dollars at the altar of net zero. They divert precious financial resources, energy and administrative bandwidth toward fighting a ghost. They chase the approval of the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, pledging allegiance to a “war on carbon.” They announce billion-dollar “renewable” targets for solar and wind installations.

In countries where capital is scarce and competing priorities numerous, this reallocation is consequential. Billions allocated to renewable energy transition in poor countries translates into delayed investment in wastewater treatment, sanitation systems and waste management technology.

Environmental ministers in developing nations have been socialized into a hierarchy of concern that places the atmospheric concentration of a botanical nutrient – carbon dioxide – above demonstrable health catastrophes unfolding in their jurisdictions.

The justification for this abysmal stance is rooted in the claim that carbon dioxide (CO2) is causing a climate crisis. The premise that this trace gas drives dangerous global warming is unscientific. The “settled science” is anything but.

Researchers like William Happer and W. A. van Wijngaarden have shown that the greenhouse effect of each CO2 molecule diminishes as its atmospheric concentration increases. Adding more CO2 to the atmosphere is like painting a black window with another coat of black paint; it makes little difference to the light passing through.

Furthermore, new data indicate that the rate of global warming between 1899 and 1940 – before the surge in industrial emissions – may have been higher than the warming rate from 1983 to 2024. If human emissions are the primary control knob of the climate, how can the greater warming of the early 20th century be explained? It cannot.

Every time a city in India or Bangladesh floods, the media shrieks “climate change!”, blaming the rain on the burning of fossil fuels. This is a lie. The rain is real, but the cause of the disaster is fabricated. Analysis of Indian flood deaths show repeatedly that urban planning failures are the culprit.

Recent assessment by the U.S. Department of Energy acknowledges that excessively aggressive mitigation policies targeting CO₂ are likely more detrimental than beneficial to economic welfare. The scientific case for treating CO₂ as a planetary menace has weakened as observational data and physical modeling have matured.

And the irony is that the fossil fuels proposed for abandonment are needed to solve the real problems: High-temperature incinerators, recycling plants and water treatment facilities require massive amounts of reliable, affordable baseload power. Solar and wind cannot provide this.

Robust infrastructure that can withstand floods and storms requires steel and concrete, which is produced by using coal and natural gas. To improve the quality of indoor air, households must transition away from burning dung and wood to clean-burning liquefied petroleum gas.

The climate scare is a luxury adventure for the rich. For most, the fight is for clean water, breathable air and the dignity of a life free from filth. The abstract, unscientific, and profitable carbon targets tailor-made for multi-billion-dollar corporations is not going to save the Global South from the suffocating effect of real pollution.

The longer developing nations remain entranced by climate virtue signaling, the longer they defer the genuine environmental remediation their populations deserve.

Originally published in The Center Square on January 28, 2026.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India. He served as a research associate with the Changing Oceans Research Unit at University of British Columbia, Canada.

A polluted area with piles of garbage and plastic waste, a fire burning among the debris, and contaminated water with foam and litter.

Shock News: Polar Bears Are Thriving

A recent study published in Scientific Reports on January 29, 2026, titled “Body condition among Svalbard Polar bears Ursus maritimus during a period of rapid loss of sea ice,” examines how polar bears in the Svalbard region of the Barents Sea have fared amid accelerating climate change.

Two polar bear cubs playing on a snowy landscape with icebergs in the background.

A recent study published in Scientific Reports on January 29, 2026, titled “Body condition among Svalbard Polar bears Ursus maritimus during a period of rapid loss of sea ice,” examines how polar bears in the Svalbard region of the Barents Sea have fared amid accelerating climate change.

Despite expectations that diminishing sea ice would lead to poorer health and fat reserves, the research reveals surprising resilience in adult bears’ body condition from 1995 to 2019.

Recent 2026 coverage (from a Scientific Reports study analyzing 770–800 bears from 1992–2019) shows this subpopulation (2,650 bears) bucking expectations:

  • Despite the fastest sea ice loss in the Arctic (extra ~4 ice-free days/year, ~100 more over the period), bear body condition (fat reserves, measured by Body Condition Index) improved after ~2000.
  • Bears appear healthier, fatter, and reproductively successful—adapting by hunting efficiently on shrinking ice patches (concentrating prey like seals), shifting to land-based foods (reindeer, walrus, eggs), and showing resilience.
  • Scientists describe this as “surprising” and positive short-term news: “A fat bear is a healthy bear.”

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A polar bear standing on an icy surface with a cloudy sky in the background.

From The Daily Sceptic

By Sallust

A group of four polar bears in a wintry landscape, surrounded by snow and ice. Two bears are sitting on the ground, while one stands on a rock and another is in the background.

Some polar bears, it seems, are doing well out climate change and reduced ice levels in the Arctic, so a study in Nature Scientific Reports says. Although ‘body condition index’ (BCI) was observed declining for the first five years of the 1995-2019 study, it didn’t stay that way:

We assessed how intrinsic (female reproductive state, age) and both males and females, BCI declined until 2000, but increased afterwards, during a period with rapid loss of sea ice. In models including sea ice metrics and climate (Arctic Oscillation), there was no support for the predicted negative effect of warmer weather and habitat loss. This indicates a complex relationship between habitat, ecosystem structure, energy intake, and energy expenditure. Increases in some prey species, including harbour seals, reindeer, and walrus, may partly offset reduced access to seals. Our findings underline the importance not to extrapolate findings across populations.

The key line there is “there was no support for the predicted negative effect of warmer weather and habitat loss”.

It seems that when conditions change there can be an initial negative effect, during which time animals learn to adapt and benefit. But not all polar bear populations may be so fortunate, apparently, and there is still good reason to believe that doom lies ahead, says the BBC:

“The fatter a bear is the better it is,” explained lead researcher Dr Jon Aars from the Norwegian Polar Institute.

“And I would have expected to see a decline in body condition when the loss of sea ice has been so profound.”

While this is unexpected, good news for these Arctic predators, the researchers think it is unlikely to last.

As the sea ice continues to decline, bears will have to travel further to access hunting grounds, using more energy and depleting precious fat reserves.

The charity Polar Bears International points out that Svalbard’s polar bears were some of the most heavily hunted in the world, until international protections were introduced in the 1970s.

Experts think the new findings could be linked to the population recovering from that hunting pressure. That, combined with an increase in the number of walruses – and of reindeer – in recent decades, appears to have provided the bears with a temporary boost.

Dr John Whiteman, Chief Research Scientist at PBI said the results were “positive in the short term”.

“But body condition is only one piece of the puzzle. Other recent research on these bears found that more ice-free days reduced survival in cubs and in subadult and old females.”

Elsewhere in the Arctic, climate change is having a very different effect on polar bears.

In Canada’s Western Hudson Bay, where the most southerly and best studied bears live, a decline in the population has been directly linked to warming temperatures.

Whiteman added that that the long-term picture for polar bears was clear – they need sea ice to survive.

“Ice loss ultimately means bear declines, but [this study shows] that the short-term picture can be very region-specific.”

“In the long term,” he told BBC News, “if ice loss continues unchecked, we know the bears will eventually disappear.”

That reads suspiciously like another potentially unreliable ‘predicted negative effect’.

Another way of looking at the polar bears is that in the ever-changing natural world there are always winners and losers. After all, the mammoths disappeared at a time of melting ice when there wasn’t a Chinese coal-fired power station in sight, while other animals adapted or evolved into species that could take advantage of warmer times, the retreat of the ice, and the spread of forests instead of cold, barren grasslands. Among them were the brown bear, various types of deer, and even ants. Another was us. Perhaps now some of the polar bears have also discovered that living in a frozen wilderness isn’t all it was cut out to be.

Worth reading in full.

A peaceful polar bear sitting on snowy terrain under the colorful auroras in the northern sky.

Berlin Hospitals Struggle to Treat Hundreds of Falls During Winter Freeze Because Environmental Laws Forbid Use of Salt on Sidewalks

Berlin has long maintained strict environmental regulations under the Berlin Nature Conservation Act (Berliner Naturschutzgesetz), which generally prohibits the use of de-icing salts (Streusalz or Tausalz) and other chemical melting agents on sidewalks, stairs, pedestrian paths, and private properties. The primary reason is to protect urban trees, vegetation, soil, groundwater, and infrastructure from salt damage- salt is only allowed on certain major roads and specific high-traffic areas managed by the city sanitation service (BSR).

View of the Charité hospital building with snowy steps and icy ground, featuring a pair of feet wearing spiked ice cleats in the foreground.

Berlin has long maintained strict environmental regulations under the Berlin Nature Conservation Act (Berliner Naturschutzgesetz), which generally prohibits the use of de-icing salts (Streusalz or Tausalz) and other chemical melting agents on sidewalks, stairs, pedestrian paths, and private properties.

The primary reason is to protect urban trees, vegetation, soil, groundwater, and infrastructure from salt damage- salt is only allowed on certain major roads and specific high-traffic areas managed by the city sanitation service (BSR).

Due to repeated snowfall, freezing rain, and persistent black ice since early January 2026, sidewalks and stairs across the city became extremely hazardous.

This led to a significant surge in slip-and-fall injuries:

  • Hospitals, including the Charité (a major university hospital) and specialized trauma centers like the BG Klinikum Unfallkrankenhaus, reported being overwhelmed.
  • Daily figures included 30–40+ patients per day at some facilities with injuries such as wrist fractures (distal radius), shoulder injuries, ankle fractures, hip/femoral neck fractures (especially in older people), head injuries, and in severe cases, risks of permanent damage like paralysis.
  • Emergency rooms faced long wait times, “full house” conditions, and extra staffing needs to handle the influx, with some accounts describing hundreds of cases overall amid the prolonged freeze.
A snowy scene at a hospital with people walking down stairs, some wearing winter coats. Ambulances are parked nearby, and the building features the Charité sign.

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From eugyppius: a plague chronicle

By Eugyppius

Two people walking along a dimly lit street at night, with one person wearing a hoodie and reaching toward a fence.

A hospital spokeswoman has urged Berliners to attach spikes to their shoes and try “walking like penguins” to avoid falling in the treacherous conditions that have plagued the city for weeks.

Repeated snowfall and freezing rain have coated the open-air insane asylum known as Berlin in a thin sheet of slippery ice since the beginning of January. To spare plants, city environmental laws have long forbidden using salt on pedestrian paths and stairways, and so residents have been falling and injuring themselves at such high rates that emergency rooms have had trouble keeping up:

Berlin’s emergency rooms are working flat out due to the icy conditions. At the BG Accident Hospital in Berlin, staff are “close to the limit,” press spokeswoman Angela Kijewski told Apollo News. On Thursday alone, there were 100 injuries due to slippery sidewalks and roads. These included bruises, broken bones and traumatic brain injuries. One patient has even suffered paraplegia.

As the press spokeswoman reported … in the last few days since the ice storm, staff have typically had to treat 50 to 70 patients a day who have been injured due to the slippery conditions. The hospital is responsible for work-related accidents and accidents on the way to work and is therefore prepared for large-scale emergencies – with the appropriate equipment and personnel. But even there, the slippery conditions are pushing them to their limits.

“Our surgeons are operating into the night,” Kijewski said …. Many of the patients require immediate surgery, while in other cases, fractures must first be immobilized with a cast and allowed to heal before further treatment can be given.

Kijewski urged Berliners to “attach spikes to their shoes for better grip,” because everybody has a few pairs of crampons just lying around, and she also amazingly suggested that residents try “walking like penguins” to avoid slipping.

For weeks, politicians have resisted relaxing their salt prohibition, despite the danger to life and limb. SPD “environmental expert” Linda Vierecke, for example, pronounced herself “sceptical” about any changes because the salt is bad for the trees. Somehow the extensive salt that the city already uses to de-ice motorways, other public transit routes and bike paths is okay though.

A screenshot of Twitter posts by Kai Wegner discussing extreme weather conditions in Berlin, highlighting the need for salt to manage icy sidewalks and ensuring public safety during winter.

This morning, Berlin’s hapless Governing Mayor, Kai Wegner, appealed to the House of Representatives “to allow the use of de-icing salt in exceptional cases” to “alleviate the dangerous situation.” After everybody had a good laugh at Wegner for his impotent social media appeals, the man discovered that he is actually in charge of the whole executive and that he can just do things:

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner has … commented in a press release: “The safety of Berliners is my top priority. That is why I have instructed the Senator for Transport today to issue a general ruling without delay, allowing private individuals and the VSR to use road salt on sidewalks to remove the ice cover.” Wegner further emphasized that he was aware that this decision was “associated with legal uncertainties.” Nevertheless, he considered it appropriate due to the “special situation.” “There is still a need for the fastest possible legal regulation to create legal certainty for the future. We will continue to discuss this in the coalition in the near future.”

Of course, Wegner could’ve waived these retarded rules weeks ago before all those elderly people ended up with grievous injuries in overflowing emergency rooms. At least the harm to Berlin’s trees has been minimised, I guess.

This article originally appeared on Eugyppius’s Substack newsletter. You can subscribe here.

Starmer Government Greenlights 15 Minute City Legal Enforcement

First published JoNova; Ordinary residents of trial cities will only be permitted 100 days per year outside their 15-minute region. But special people get a free pass.

Street view with traffic signs indicating '15 Minute City', 'Low Traffic', 'Traffic Enforcement Camera', and 'Trarfic Filter'. Surveillance cameras are visible on poles.

From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

A police officer in uniform leaning into a car window, looking serious and concerned, with greenery in the background.

First published JoNova; Ordinary residents of trial cities will only be permitted 100 days per year outside their 15-minute region. But special people get a free pass.

Labour council brings in ‘perverse’ 15-minute driving rules – it could roll out across UK

Labour ministers have drawn up plans to hand councils powers to bring in 15-minute cities branded ‘Stalinist’ and ‘perverse’.

By Aaron Newbury
10:18, Sun, Jan 25, 2026, Updated: 10:41, Sun, Jan 25, 2026

Sir Keir Starmer will introduce 15-minute cities across the country with critics slamming them as ‘Stalinist’ and ‘perverse’ , it has been revealed.

15-minute cities are a new concept based on the idea that a person living in one will be able to access everything they need within a quarter of an hour by walking or cycling. They are sometimes accompanied by restrictions on motorists.

Oxford, which is actively implementing a plan to introduce the scheme, has seen its local authority plot to divide the city into six “15-minute neighbourhoods”. This would see drivers needing to secure a permit for residents so that they could travel for 100 days for free through the traffic filters in the city.

A separate permit would allow just 25 days of free travel, with drivers hit with fines should they move around the city beyond those allocated days.

…Read more: https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/2162240/labour-council-perverse-15-minute-driving-rules-roll-out-across-uk-oxford

Advocates have defended the scheme.

For some conspiracy theorists, this has come to mean an attack on freedom, arguing that people will be restricted from leaving their homes and forced to live within a 15-minute radius of where they live.

This has been widely debunked.

Nicholas Boys Smith, the chairman of urban planning think tank Create Streets, has written widely on the subject. 

He said: “If you live in any neighbourhood built before the 1950s then the chances are you already do live in a place with some or many of the characteristics of a 15-minute city and are able (more or less) to walk to the pub, to the corner shop or to a nearby school. If you are richer, then you are more likely to live in such a place.”

Other users asked: “Why is having amenities near people a bad thing?” Or described the concept as “a dream”.

Oxfordshire County Council confirmed to Big Issue that the proposed traffic filters trial has nothing to do with the concept of 15-minute cities.

Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for transport management, told Big Issue: “I read the article in the Daily Express and my jaw nearly hit the floor. I mean, it is a quite extraordinary misrepresentation of what this scheme does. 

…Read more: https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/15-minute-cities-sharron-davies-right-said-fred/

Why would anyone choose to travel more than 15 minutes from home?

Because something they need is more than 15 minutes away, of course.

If everything you need is within 15 minutes of home, lucky you. But if everything you need is the wrong side of one of those “traffic filters”, this new law is going to hurt.

If your kid’s school is the wrong side of one of these “traffic filters”, does this mean you need to find your kid a new school? Like the awful school just down the road which you rejected in favour of the 20-minute drive to the better-quality school?

Do you now have to put up with the overpriced corner store, when there is a much better supermarket 20 minutes drive from your house?

The suggestion people should use more public transport or cycle more to avoid the new 15-minute city restrictions is absurd. Not only is British weather cold and rainy much of the time, from 2024 to 2025 there was a 10% uptick in bike robberies in Oxford. Driving in a locked vehicle is more comfortable and far safer than using public transport or riding a bike down lonely tracks, especially for women returning home from late shift work.

These new laws restricting travel are a recipe for hurting ordinary people, people who aren’t well connected enough to get a special pass.

If local governments had attempted to actually create 15-minute cities, by working to improve the availability of local amenities, I would not have had a problem with that. But there would still be lots of people who have to travel further than 15 minutes, for work or school or taking care of elderly relatives, or any number of other reasons.

Punishing people who are already doing it tough, in the hope magic 15-minute eco-cities will somehow arise out of the cruelty being inflicted on ordinary people, that’s just nasty.

Traffic signs indicating driving regulations in Oxford, including a no entry sign, a low traffic neighborhood sign, and details about city legal enforcement and an ANPR camera system.

CFACT takes down UN assault on plastic

In early November 2025, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), in close collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), released the 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business. This document serves as a forward-looking, business-oriented blueprint and roadmap building directly on the Global Commitment initiative (launched in 2018 by EMF and UNEP), which was the world’s largest voluntary effort to address plastic waste and pollution.

Cover image for 'The Next Plastics Playbook' featuring a scenic view of a city skyline beside the ocean during sunset, with the title and subtitle prominently displayed.

In early November 2025, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), in close collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), released the 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business.

This document serves as a forward-looking, business-oriented blueprint and roadmap building directly on the Global Commitment initiative (launched in 2018 by EMF and UNEP), which was the world’s largest voluntary effort to address plastic waste and pollution.

Key Details on the 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business

  • Release Date and Context: Launched alongside the final Global Commitment 2025 Progress Report (covering 2024 data and reflecting on a decade of voluntary action). The Agenda extends the Global Commitment into its next phase (“Global Commitment 2030”), where signatories recommit with updated targets and transparent reporting.
  • Core Purpose: It provides a practical, evidence-based framework for businesses to accelerate the transition to a circular economy for plastics — eliminating unnecessary plastic, innovating with alternatives/reuse models, and circulating what’s needed to prevent waste and pollution. It reflects lessons from the 2018–2025 period, where individual company efforts hit systemic barriers (e.g., economics of scaling recycling, flexible packaging challenges, infrastructure gaps).
  • Three Main Pillars/Levers (as outlined in the Agenda):
    1. Collective Advocacy: Businesses proactively pushing for ambitious, effective, and harmonized regulations/policies (e.g., supporting measures like extended producer responsibility, minimum recycled content mandates, bans on problematic items, and alignment with ongoing global plastics treaty negotiations).
    2. Collaborative Action: Joint efforts across the value chain to de-risk investments, share costs, scale solutions (e.g., reuse systems, infrastructure for collection/recycling), and overcome barriers no single company can tackle alone.
    3. Individual Action: Companies continuing internal innovations, such as reducing virgin plastic, increasing post-consumer recycled (PCR) content, redesigning for recyclability/reuse/compostability, and eliminating problematic/unnecessary packaging.
  • Signatory Support and Scale: Backed by leading companies (representing ~20% of the global plastic packaging market), including Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, SC Johnson, Danone, L’Oréal, Amcor, Borealis, Colgate-Palmolive, and TOMRA. It urges broader industry adoption.
  • Link to Enforceability: The Agenda strongly advocates for turning voluntary commitments into stronger, policy-driven outcomes. It calls on businesses to collectively influence and support effective regulations (e.g., via advocacy coalitions) to level the playing field, lower transition costs, and make circular models economically viable. However, the Agenda itself remains a voluntary, business-led framework — not a binding international policy or treaty. It complements (and pushes for alignment with) multilateral efforts like the UN’s ongoing Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, which aim for legally binding global rules.

Cover image of 'The Next Plastics Playbook' report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, featuring a skyline overlooking a beach and ocean.

From CFACT

By Melanie Collette

In November 2025, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with the UN Environment Programme, released its 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business – a global framework that aspires to turn voluntary sustainability pledges into enforceable international policies.

The report drew significant attention for its call to expand Extended Producer Responsibility systems, standardize packaging design, and align national laws under a single circular economy model. In response, CFACT Senior Policy Analyst Melanie Collette authored The Next Plastics Playbook, which challenges several of the Foundation’s claims and examines the implications for innovation, competition, and national sovereignty.

READ THE FULL REPORT

The-Next-Plastics-Playbook-V4Herunterladen

Trump’s boycott leaves UN ‘on brink of bankruptcy’, says secretary-general

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the organization faces “imminent financial collapse” due to unpaid member state dues and rigid budget rules, with cash potentially running out by July 2026.

Person speaking at a podium during a formal event, wearing a suit and gesturing with their right hand.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the organization faces “imminent financial collapse” due to unpaid member state dues and rigid budget rules, with cash potentially running out by July 2026.

Key points from reports:

  • The UN ended 2025 with a record $1.568 billion in outstanding dues (more than double the prior year), with collections covering only about 76.7% of assessed contributions.
  • The US, as the largest contributor (typically around 22% of the regular budget), owes billions—estimates include roughly $2.2 billion to the regular budget and additional amounts for peacekeeping (around $1.8–$1.88 billion for active missions).
  • Contributing factors include unpaid mandatory dues, a rule requiring the UN to return unspent funds to members (creating a “Kafkaesque cycle” per Guterres), and cuts/withdrawals under Trump.
  • In early January 2026, the US withdrew from dozens of international organizations, including 31 UN entities (e.g., certain agencies tied to climate, gender equality, and others deemed contrary to US interests or wasteful). This involved slashing voluntary funding and withholding or delaying some mandatory payments.
  • Guterres urged members to pay in full and on time or overhaul financial rules to avert collapse, without directly naming the US in the letter, though context points heavily to it as the primary cause of the shortfall.
  • Potential impacts: Threatened program delivery, possible closure of New York headquarters by August if unresolved, and risks to operations like peacekeeping and humanitarian aid.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Antonio Guterres believes the organisation could run out of cash by July

The United Nations is on the brink of bankruptcy after Donald Trump cut funding, its secretary-general said. The Telegraph has the story.

Antonio Guterres said the organisation was at risk of “imminent financial collapse” and could run out of cash by July. Trump’s boycott leaves UN ‘on brink of bankruptcy’

He blamed unpaid fees and a budget rule that forces the global body to return unspent money, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.

The UN has struggled for cash after the US – its largest contributor – cut voluntary funding to the body’s agencies and refused to make payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.

Earlier this month, Washington announced the US would withdraw and cease funding for 31 UN entities, including a climate treaty and body promoting gender equality.

Mr Guterres told Washington at the time that it had a legal obligation to pay its contributions to the budgets.

“The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. And the situation will deteriorate further ‍in ‌the near future,” Mr Guterres wrote in a letter to ambassadors dated Jan 28.

“Decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share ⁠of ‌the approved regular budget ‍have now been formally announced.”

It was not clear which members he was referring to, and a UN spokesman did not immediately respond to The Telegraph for comment.

Mr Guterres urged all member states to “honour their obligations to pay ‌in full and on time” or to “fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse”.

Read the full story here.

A world map in green on a red background, surrounded by a laurel wreath, with the text 'This is Not Working' in yellow at the bottom.