Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges climate alarmists planning on blocking American highways and vandalizing art to be 'much more aggressive'



Democrat Michigan Rep. Tashida Tlaib's enmity is not reserved for Israel alone. The so-called "Squad" member apparently does not trust the American people and their democratic process to produce her desired outcomes. As a result, she has reportedly instructed climate alarmists to achieve her objectives by other means.

Tlaib recently joined multimillionaire socialist and screenwriter Adam McKay in addressing around 125 extremists from Climate Defiance, Declare Emergency, and other leftist outfits on a private call to which the Daily Mail gained access.

"Nothing cuts through the BS and rigmarole more than straight-up disruptive activism. I’m talking about the power of the people," said McKay. "I’m talking about the people that created democracy, that threw the kings out of power."

According to the Daily Mail, Tlaib stressed, "If we don't get the policies we need, if our legislative process is failing us, then direct action gets the goods."

"We have to be much more aggressive in regard to fossil fuel expansions," said the 46-year-old Palestinian-American.

Tlaib reportedly noted that neither Congress nor the White House would cut pollution to the activists' satisfaction unless "the streets demanded it."

Declare Emergency's Seattle-based mobilizer Donald Zepeda discussed plans to mount disruptions on federal properties in New York City and Washington in August.

"We aim for whatever causes the most kerfuffle. Everyone has to see it. Everyone is impacted," said Zepeda. "Doing massively disruptive, nonviolent civil disobedience, it's a necessary and important part of getting us to where we need to be."

The groups whose past criminality Tlaib lauded on the call have been responsible for recent blockades, iconoclasm, and other efforts to extort concessions from American officials.

Declare Emergency, for instance, demands that President Joe Biden "declare a formal state of climate emergency." To that end, the group routinely disrupts traffic "similar to the way a hurricane, flood, or wildfire might," even if that means threatening lives and livelihoods.

The iconoclasts charged last month with defacing an art exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Timothy Martin of North Carolina and Joanna Smith of New York, both belong to Declare Emergency. According to ABC News, the duo allegedly inflicted $2,400 in damage, which resulted in the exhibit's removal for repairs.

\u201cAround 11 am today two parents who are terrified about their children\u2019s\u2019 futures (as well as all children) made a statement at the National Gallery in DC. Climate change will cause famine, floods, droughts and destruction unless we act now. #DecEmergency #ActOnClimate\u201d
— Declare Emergency (@Declare Emergency) 1682615659

Days prior to the extremists' attack on the Edgar Degas sculpture, Declare Emergency shut down a section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, resulting in heavy traffic jams.

Climate Defiance, whose leaders were on the call with Tlaib, similarly does not trust the American electorate to legally advance its grand designs, opting instead to "compel politicians to act" on the basis of the group's fears by way of strikes, blockades, or "mass occupation."

Earlier this month, Climate Defiance temporarily shut down a keynote address by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), accusing him of being "an ecocidal millionaire."

Extinction Rebellion's British co-founder Roger Hallam also joined Tlaib on the call.

Hallam's outfit is a decentralized group of radical leftists keen on ridding Western nations of affordable energy, antipathetic to fossil fuels and nuclear energy alike. The Daily Caller reported that Hallam's group caused millions of dollars worth of losses during a 2019 series of extremist outbursts that shut down London.

While these groups together seek an end to inexpensive, stable energy, it appears they are also committed to identitarian and socialist programs. For instance, Climate Defiance indicates on its site that it stands "in solidarity with our sister-struggles for racial and economic justice."

Should Tlaib, McKay, and their climate alarmist allies get their way, the fallout could prove catastrophic.

TheBlaze previously noted that in his 2022 New York Times best-selling book "How the World Really Works," scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil detailed how fossil fuels are absolutely critical when it comes to feeding, warming, and nurturing humanity.

Ending or abruptly curbing oil production, as the vandals demand, would have profound consequences, not the least on all those who may no longer be able to heat their homes in the winter or cool them in the summer.

Smil wrote, "Our food supply — be it staple grains, clucking birds, favorite vegetables, or seafood praised for its nutritious quality — has become increasingly dependent on fossil fuels."

Smil also indicated that "after adding the energy requirements of food processing and marketing, packaging, transportation, wholesale and retail services, household food storage and preparation, and away-from-home food and marketing services, the grand total in the US [of the direct energy use in food production] reached nearly 16 percent of the nation's energy supply in 2007 and now it is approaching 20 percent."

Extra to the diesel that powers tractors and the transports that move food from farm to market, natural gas plays a critical role in farming, as it is used as a feedstock to produce nitrogen-based fertilizers, essential for crops.

In a recent Mississippi Center for Public Policy speech, energy expert Alex Epstein highlighted how climate alarmists appear willing to overlook the benefits and essential uses of fossil fuels, even if their utopian alternatives have no basis in reality and are likely to jeopardize the well-being of billions of people if pursued.

While Declare Emergency warns that billions will starve if the alleged threat of climate change isn't dealt with, it does not appear the group has factored in the consequences or the unpopularity of its own proposals.

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, only 31% of American respondents said the country should "completely phase out oil, coal and natural gas"; 67% of Americans disagree with climate alarmists, insisting on a mixed use of energy sources, including fossil fuels.

Whereas 78% of Democrats described climate change as a major threat to the country's well-being, only 23% Republicans agreed.

Tackling the specter of anthropogenic climate change is far from the top of Americans' priorities, ranking 17th out of 21 national issues in a January Pew survey.

The Daily Caller noted that Tlaib, Declare Emergency, and Extinction Rebellion had not responded to requests for comment.
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'Dark climate change religion': Middle school teacher feeds sixth-graders bugs and climate alarmist propaganda



Utah's Nebo School District seeks to "prepare students to succeed in school and life." Apparently, that preparation now involves eating bugs and developing a dislike of beef.

Fox News Digital reported that a middle school in the district recently provided sixth-grade students with bugs to eat as part of an English assignment concerning the specter of anthropogenic climate change.

What are the details?

Students were instructed to write an essay on March 7 arguing in support of the consumption of insects rather than cows. The assignment's baked-in presumption was that the mass production and consumption of insect-based foods contra beef will impact weather patterns to a lesser extent.

Children involved in this interactive agitprop were reportedly barred from disagreeing with the premise in their essays. Some students were even given extra credit to consume bugs, which the district admitted to sourcing from a commercial site.

Amanda Wright, a mother of one of the students in the class, challenged the school's principal over the assignment, noting it had made her daughter feel uncomfortable.

Wright suggested that the assignment was tantamount to "indoctrination" and part of a concerted effort to evangelize on behalf of a "dark climate change religion."

Following her initial complaint, Wright met with school administrators and recorded the conversation. Alison Hansen, the principal, was recorded saying "the assignment was about finding facts to support" the climate alarmist premise.

"All the evidence has suggested ... that we probably should be eating bugs – it's good for the environment, etc. But I didn't know that that was an offensive topic," said Kim Cutler, a teacher at Spring Canyon Middle School not presently listed on its faculty page.

Wright's daughter similarly captured evidence of climate dogmatism in the classroom.

"How come we can't state our opinion and write that we shouldn't be eating bugs?" asked the sixth-grader.

"Because we don't have any evidence to support it," said Cutler.

In 2019, Swedish researchers warned in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution that by rushing into the mass production and consumption of insects, "we risk creating an industry that replaces one environmental problem with another."

Whereas Cutler told Wright's daughter there was no evidence to support not eating bugs, experts at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences suggested there is similarly little evidence to suggest that the mass rearing of insects won't turn out to be calamitous.

"The emerging insects-as-food industry is increasingly promoted as a sustainable alternative to other animal protein production systems. However, the exact nature of its environmental benefits are uncertain because of the overwhelming lack of knowledge concerning almost every aspect of production: from suitable species, their housing and feed requirements, and potential for accidental release," said the researchers.

The researchers added, "If ecological sustainability is to be a hallmark of mass insect rearing for consumption, ecologists need to engage in research related to sustainability criteria that are directly linked to key elements of the development of the industry."

Cutler told the younger Wright, "It's kind of weird that I gave you a topic where there is only one right answer. We don't want to eat bugs and it's gross. But should we be eating bugs? Yeah, because we're killing the world by raising cows and animals. So we need to, not get rid of cows, but like, try to balance our diet so that not so much of our land is being used to raise cows, 'cause it's killing the ozone layer."

When the younger Wright attempted to raise an objection, Cutler said, "There's only one right answer to this essay. And it's that Americans should be eating bugs. Everyone in the world is eating them, it's healthy for the environment and there's just, there's only one right answer."

Fox News Digital indicated that Cutler later explained that the district had pushed bug-eating advocacy in its training.

The district admitted in a statement that extra credit had been offered in exchange for kids eating bugs and noted that upon Wright expressing concern, 'The student was offered another topic of the student’s choice. Remember this particular assignment is about finding facts versus opinions to support writing an argumentative essay."

Bugging out

TheBlaze has previously reported on the joint effort by climate alarmists and technocrats to preclude the masses from consuming real meat as part of a broader campaign to combat the specter of climate change.

The Guardian ran an op-ed in 2018 claiming, "Reducing our meat intake is crucial to avoiding climate breakdown, since food production accounts for about a quarter of all human-related greenhouse gas emissions, and is predicted to rise. In western countries, this means eating 90% less beef and five times as many beans and pulses."

A 2017 review published in the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development suggested that rather than meat, humans could instead try eating weeds, micro-algae, and bugs.

The World Economic Forum ran an article in February 2022 touting bugs as "an excellent alternative source of protein" and a way to "significantly reduce our carbon footprint." The WEF author went so far as to suggest that insects are "part of a virtuous eco-cycle."

When speaking recently at the WEF, Siemens AG chairman Jim Hagemann similarly called on people to stop eating meat to curb the specter of anthropogenic climate change.

"If a billion people stop eating meat, I tell you, it has a big impact. Not only does it have a big impact on the current food system, but it will also inspire innovation of food systems," Hagemann told a crowd of technocrats in Davos, Switzerland.

Extra to foisting a bug diet on the population, alarmists have recommended lab-grown cancer-based synthetic meat as an alternative to eating real beef.

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Bank of Canada admits Trudeau's climate-alarmist policies are worsening inflation



Americans have long understood that President Joe Biden's so-called green agenda has exacerbated inflation, making it harder for families to fill their gas tanks and grocery baskets.

Now, central Canadian institutions are coming around to the fact that the Trudeau government's climate-alarmist policies have similarly dealt their nation and its citizens an inflationary blow.

A troubling solution

Although somewhat buried in its Jan. 26 report entitled "The 2021-22 Surge in Inflation," the Bank of Canada, the country's central bank, admitted that the "ongoing transition from fossil fuels to green energy ... requires an immense reallocation of investments, which raises costs due to higher demand for new investments and lack of investment supply into fossil fuel production."

"These cost pressures are exacerbated by the long time required to build green energy infrastructure, further boosting prices for fossil fuels," continues the report. "This shift to relatively higher energy prices will also contribute to challenges for monetary policy to keep inflation on target over the long term."

According to the report's authors, this transition — largely away from stable and ethical North American oil to purported alternatives frequently reliant on instable foreign supplies of rare minerals — is "perhaps the most persistent trend" adding to inflationary pressures in Canada.

The report references a March 2022 speech by Isabel Schnabel, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, in which the Greek economist underscored that "there is a price to be paid for going green at a pace that reflects the dual objective of safeguarding both our planet and our right to self-determination."

Schnabel reckons it's a price worth other people paying.

She further suggested that the "fight against climate change is one factor that is contributing to making fossil fuels more expensive."

Oil and its byproducts do not just fuel transportation and keep the economy moving but are used in plastics, protective equipment, chemicals, fertilizers, drugs, clothing, and even in the construction of the materials needed for the means of their planned substitution, such as solar panels and wind turbines.

Schnabel suggests that in this transition, countries like Canada will also have to contend with "greenflation."

"Many companies are adapting their production processes in an effort to reduce carbon emissions," she said. "But most green technologies require significant amounts of metals and minerals, such as copper, lithium and cobalt, especially during the transition period."

Here is a cobalt mine in the Congo where the mineral is extracted to help achieve the vision of climate alarmists like Trudeau and Biden:

\u201cCongo supplies\u00a070% of the world\u2019s cobalt via industrial mining (mostly Chinese-owned). Cobalt is used in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries used in smartphones, tablets & electric cars. Children in Congo are among those risking their lives to mine cobalt.\n\nhttps://t.co/lL6E0ZAAhs\u201d
— James Melville (@James Melville) 1674810960

"Electric vehicles, for example, use over six times more minerals than their conventional counterparts. An offshore wind plant requires over seven times the amount of copper compared with a gas-fired plant," added the Greek economist.

The heightened demand for these minerals and the constrained supply accounts for the spike in prices, contributing to the problem of the so-called green solution.

Mark Mills of the Manhattan Institute wrote in apparent concurrence in the Wall Street Journal last April, stating, "Just as inflated prices for oil and natural gas rip through the economy, so do the costs of basic minerals, which are needed to build every class of product from appliances and houses to computers and cars. And while materials have for most of recent history constituted a minor share of the final cost of products, that share becomes major if mineral prices balloon."

Schnabel of the European Central Bank distilled the trouble in the climate alarmists' remedies down to: "The faster and more urgent the shift to a greener economy becomes, the more expensive it may get in the short run."

Acceptable pain

Trudeau's liberal government is keenly aware of the impact this will and has had on citizens.

Liberal member of parliament Ryan Turnbull stated on June 6, "Achieving net-zero is not going to be easy, that's for sure. ... We are going to have to switch our lifestyles and that is going to be painful at times."

Liberal millionaire Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau's deputy prime minister, confronted that pain, telling working- and middle-class Canadian families overwhelmed by inflation that they could improve the situation her government's policies worsened by dropping their Disney+ subscriptions.

Under the Trudeau government, federal carbon taxes imposed on Canadians have gone up drastically and are set to rise even more.

Global News reported that the price of the carbon tax hit $50 per ton of emissions on April 1, 2022, working out to approximately 11 cents CDN per 0.2 gallons, which is in addition to various municipal and provincial climate taxes.

The Trudeau liberals announced that by 2030, the price would be $170 CDN a ton, or nearly 40 cents a liter.

Adding insult to injury, Liberal natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson recently announced that he will introduce green-transition legislation to move the oil and gas workers Ottawa has or soon will put out of work into so-called green energy jobs.

CTV News reported that to meet the Liberal government's emissions targets, millions of Canadians would be put out of work, including 300,000 agriculture workers; 35,000 forestry workers; 202,000 energy workers; 193,000 manufacturing workers; 1.4 million buildings workers; and 642,000 transportation workers.

Danielle Smith, the conservative premier of Alberta, noted that her province, which boasts the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, would be severely impacted by the liberals' fanciful vision.

"He has no business dictating to us," said Smith. "'Just Transition' is extreme environmental language."

Smith added, "It was coined by extreme environmental groups who want to completely phase out the oil and gas and fossil fuel sector. They [Ottawa] use that knowing that was going to be the way it was interpreted."

If liberal politicians' efforts to decarbonize will not be held up by the will of carbon-based workers, scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil suggested reality will do the trick.

"Annual global demand for fossil carbon is now just above 10 billion tons a year — a mass nearly five times more than the recent annual harvest of all staple grains feeding humanity, and more than twice the total mass of water drunk annually by the world's nearly 8 billion inhabitants — and it should be obvious that displacing and replacing such a mass is not something best handled by government targets for years ending in zero or five," he wrote in "How the World Really Works."

Smil emphasized that "both the high relative share and the scale of our dependence on fossil carbon make any rapid substitutions impossible: this is not a biased personal impression stemming from a poor understanding of the global energy system — but a realistic conclusion based on engineering and economic realities."

Until the time the transition supposedly under way meets with reality or significant opposition, inflation and joblessness will likely continue to be problems. However, per Freeland's suggestion, it may not be so intolerable for the financially overwhelmed and the unemployed who drop a streaming subscription.

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