New York City's vegan mayor issues decree requiring city to eat less meat as a means of combating the specter of climate change



New York City's Democratic mayor reportedly went vegan in 2016 after temporarily losing his eyesight to Type 2 diabetes. With his restored vision, Eric Adams has focused on another reason to avoid meat: the specter of anthropogenic climate change.

However, this time around, Adams wants New Yorkers to suffer a vegetarian diet along with him.

Adams said in a statement Monday, "What we put on our plate doesn't just affect us. We now know food is the third largest source of emissions in New York City, so what we eat is impacting our entire planet. That's why today I'm announcing that by 2030, the City will reduce our food-related emissions by 33%."

In 2021, the city of New York spent $297.59 million on food, which allegedly resulted in the production of 123.72K tons of carbon dioxide emissions — emissions the plants Adams consumes happen to thrive on.

According to the city's food policy page, the "Carbon Footprint of the City's food purchases is equivalent to the annual emission of more than 70,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles."
While dairy and grain products account for the bulk of the total emissions according to the city's data, the Adams administration has instead targeted meat, just over a year after the vegan mayor suggested, "I've got to get New Yorkers to eat a plant-based centered life."

Noting that the New York City Health System defaulted to plant-based meals for patients and allegedly cut its food emissions by 36%, Adams said, "The rest of our government will do the same."

The following agencies will be impacted by this decree: the New York City Department of Education, the Department of Homeless Services, the Department for the Aging, the Department of Correction, the Human Resources Administration, Health and Hospitals, and the Administration for Children's Services.

Accordingly, schoolchildren, prisoners, hospital patients, and elderly dependents will be precluded from putting their canine teeth to work on protein and mineral-rich meats, at least on certain days.

Although scientists have long held that meat is a vital part of child's diet, New York City K-8 school children will instead have to throw back chickpeas on Mondays. While dairy is linked to the greatest emissions on the menu, they'll enjoy mozzarella sticks rather than meat on Wednesday. On Friday, April 21, they'll have to choke back potato gumbo or once again become complicit in dairy and grain emissions by snacking on grilled cheese sandwiches. After being spoiled with country chicken on April 27, students' palates will be mocked with a BBQ veggie burger and more dairy products the following day.

At all times, pork is verboten.

The Democratic mayor also challenged private sector partners to cut their food emissions by 25%, prompting them to take part in the so-called "Plant Powered Carbon Challenge," in hopes of satisfying Paris climate agreement goals.
\u201cLast year, @NYCHealthSystem defaulted to plant-based meals for patients and cut their food emissions by 36%. The rest of our government will do the same.\n\nWe're also challenging private sector partners to cut their food emissions 25% by 2030: https://t.co/hcDlH41LWy\u201d
— Mayor Eric Adams (@Mayor Eric Adams) 1681753307

The New York Times reported that when issuing his decree, the vegan mayor said, "It is easy to talk about emissions that are coming from vehicles and how it impacts our carbon footprint, it is easy to talk about the emissions that’s coming from buildings and how it impacts our environment. ... But we now have to talk about beef. And I don’t know if people are really ready for this conversation."

Richard Larrick, a professor of management at Duke University, told the Times, "If you really want to make a difference, there are two main things you do for food, one of which is you try to reduce the amount of beef."

"To have 20 grams of protein from beef — that’s kind of a meal’s serving of protein — is like burning a gallon of gasoline,” added Larrick. “Everything else is less than a fifth of a gallon, essentially."

While seeking to go light on gasoline, Adams is apparently happy to waste water on his allegedly green diet.

Adams' cookbook "Healthy at Last" details how to make "Forest Bowls with Earthy Vegetables and Turmeric Cashew Sauce." While nary a cow is slaughtered to make this particular dish, clean water is sacrificed by the barrelful.

It takes roughly 1,704 gallons of water to produce one pound of the cashews needed for the vegan mayor's recipe at a time when so-called "climate crisis" is creating water shortages around the world — caused, according to the city of New York, disproportionately by the dairy and grains still on the menu.

In his announcement, Adams claimed, "We have two mothers: One gave birth to us, the other sustains us, and we have been destroying the one that sustains us based on the food that we have been consuming."

Adams' clampdown on meat consumption may ultimately mean real mothers will get less protein and figurative mothers will be spared the lesser of several emitters among the food groups on offer in New York City facilities.

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Climate alarmist Greta Thunberg's 'arrest' at anti-labor protest exposed as media stunt, widely ridiculed



Images of climate alarmist Greta Thunberg's supposed arrest by German police circulated widely after the Tuesday incident, prompting some to contemplate her apparent bravery in the face of statist force.

Raw footage of the incident and additional scrutiny have together revealed that the 20-year-old Swedish activist, like her actor father, has a knack for the theatrical. Not only was Thunberg's arrest reportedly staged, it wasn't an arrest at all.

What's the background?

Climate alarmists flocked to a condemned western German village Tuesday for an anti-labor protest, denouncing a job-creating coal mine expansion.

Hamstrung by domestic anti-oil policies and unable to count on renewables, Europe ended up overly reliant on Russian energy. As Russia began to cut off the continent during its war on Ukraine, countries like Germany — which previously obtained roughly 30% of its supply from Russia — were forced to return to using coal.

While climate alarmism had a hand in driving Germany's desperate need for coal, Thunberg and others nevertheless voiced their opposition to the demolition of the abandoned village of Luetzerath, required for the expansion of the Garzweiler 2 mine.

Though condemned and owned by the mine, Luetzerath has recently become an ecosocialist squat for leftist militants and climate extremists.

Leftist extremists from the condemned village can be seen here attacking journalists:

\u201cAt the autonomous zone in #Luetzerath, Germany by militant leftists, #Antifa & climate extremists, Antifa surrounded and attacked journalists. The violent occupation has been praised by leftists & Greta Thunberg for stopping a coal mine expansion.\u201d
— Andy Ng\u00f4 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Andy Ng\u00f4 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1673762169

Police, who had been trying to prevent protesters from getting injured in the open-pit mine, were reportedly pelted with incendiary devices. Over 70 officers were injured.

Climate alarmists and other anti-labor protesters also reportedly damaged police patrol cars.

Reuters initially reported that Greta Thunberg, who had trespassed to as far as the edge of the mine, had been arrested.

Police told Reuters that "Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge [of the mine]. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity."

After police rescued the dramatist's daughter, Thunberg was reportedly "held by one arm at a spot further away from the edge of the mine where she was previously sat with the group."

Thunberg, ostensibly wearing a jacket and bag made with petroleum products, told the Associated Press that "what everyone does matters. ... And if one of the largest polluters, like Germany, and one of the biggest historical emitters of CO2 is doing something like this, then of course it affects more or less everyone — especially those most bearing the brunt of the climate crisis."

Some of Thunberg's fans saw the initial images, apparently believing that she had been arrested doing something that mattered.

NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus tweeted, "Greta's first arrest. It's time for many more of us to stand up and risk arrest for the sake of a livable planet. It will turn the tide."

Climate activist Mike Hudema tweeted with similar urgency, "Greta Thunberg has been detained in Germany for protesting the expantion [sic] of a coal mine despite the government claiming it will exit coal by 2030. The coal expansion betrays 'present and future generations.' There is no time to wait."

\u201cGreta Thunberg has been detained in Germany for protesting the expantion of a coal mine despite the government claiming it will exit coal by 2030. \n\nThe coal expansion betrays "present and future generations."\n\nThere is no time to wait. #ActOnClimate \n#IStandwithGreta #L\u00fctzerath\u201d
— Mike Hudema (@Mike Hudema) 1673985657

Frown for the cameras

The Guardian reported that, contrary to previous claims, Thunberg was briefly detained, not arrested.

The Hill noted that Thunberg, who had been trespassing, was simply escorted along with other climate alarmists away from the coal mine site on private property.

Snopes all but conceded it was nothing more than a photo op, writing that "activists often plan such sit-ins and protests as media events to publicize their cause, in full knowledge that police and media will be present — which is to say that they are, in a sense, 'staged.'"

A video has emerged of Thunberg chuckling away with her supposed captors.

The footage shows Thunberg and her police escorts striking different poses for the cameramen and videographers in their orbit, laughing sporadically.

After the photo op, the police escorted the Swedish trespasser off the private property.

\u201cYes, the Greta Thunberg arrest was staged for the establishment media.\u201d
— Catch Up (@Catch Up) 1673993443

Sky News host Chris Kenny said the photo op was "Just farcical, isn’t it? Deceptive too – it’s theatre, climate theatre, and most media just goes along with the charade."

Townhall editor Guy Benson noted that Thunberg's photo op with German police had the "Same energy" as when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) pretended to be handcuffed when being escorted from a pro-abortion protest at the U.S. Capitol.

\u201cSame energy\u201d
— Guy Benson (@Guy Benson) 1673997674

At the time of the incident, Thunberg said, "Germany is really embarrassing itself right now. ... I think it’s absolutely absurd that this is happening the year 2023."

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Biden administration to use federal funds to finance foreign mining operations after killing American mines



To satisfy climate alarmists' desire that American streets be crowded only with so-called zero-emission vehicles, rare earth minerals must be extracted. The Biden administration, caving to pressure from activist groups, would prefer those minerals to be largely sourced abroad, where regulations are lax and potential environmental consequences are out of the American public's view.

Axios reported that the Biden administration is not just seeking to acquire lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, and other resources required in the manufacture of EVs from outside the U.S. but is seeking to help finance foreign mining projects with federal funds.

What are the details?

Jose Fernandez, under secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment, told Axios that the Biden administration is considering funneling federal funds into "around a dozen" mining projects outside of the U.S., potentially through the Mineral Security Partnership.

The MSP was established in June to "ensure that critical minerals are produced, processed, and recycled in a manner that supports the ability of countries to realize the full economic development benefit of their geological endowments."

The end use of these "critical minerals" are so-called clean technologies like EVs and solar panels.

Among the MSP's member states are Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, the U.K., and the U.S.

MSP partners are poised to provide projects around the world with debt financing, guaranteed loans, and other forms of financial support in hopes of increasing and securing stable supply of critical minerals while also limiting reliance on Chinese resources.

According to Axios, federal funds will be made available through the Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation, which is already backing a Brazilian nickel mining project.

Fernandez suggested that "we're going to need an exponential amount of rare earths and critical minerals, above what we have today."

To that end, the Biden administration will raise "the level of investment ... in a way that benefits these countries and would be sustainable."

To whom is it a benefit?

Since President Joe Biden took office, he has been under immense pressure from environmentalist groups to kill domestic mining projects.

Biden's Department of the Interior killed two mineral leases for Antofagasta Plc's Twin Metals copper and nickel mine in Minnesota back in January.

Biden also caved to a demand by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and others to block a federal land exchange for the Rio Tinto/BHP Group Resolution joint venture, which planned to produce an estimated 40 billion pounds of copper over a 40-year stretch.

Concerning the administration's capture by climate activists, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said, "These 'not-in-my-backyard' extremists have made clear they want to lock up our land and prevent the mining of minerals."

Having locked up American resources, the Biden administration has sought to furnish environmentalists' dream of a greener America with foreign minerals, reported Reuters.

While some of these minerals will be sourced from Canada — a USMCA nation that shares with America an integrated electricity grid, the world's only binational military command, and similar regulatory standards — the Biden administration and the MSP apparently won't hesitate to aid projects in compromised nations farther abroad.

For instance, at the ministerial meeting of the MSP in September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited a graphite mine in Balama, Mozambique, as an MSP success story. Blinken suggested that local conflict in the human rights-challenged nation was averted by employing hundreds of local workers in the mine and raising millions of dollars in community development.

Deantha Skibinski, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association, told Alaska Business that it need not be an either/or decision but that American projects should nevertheless be prioritized.

"Production of minerals from allied nations isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the projections on demand are so staggering it really may be an ‘anywhere we can get supply’ situation," said Skibinski, "but we should look to produce minerals in America first, where we know that mining is conducted with the highest environmental, labor, and safety standards in the world, and the economic and community benefits can be realized by our citizens."

Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) similarly noted that "we need to be forming alliances with our friends around the world,” but funding foreign projects at Americans' expense and disadvantage was “horrific.”

Axios indicated that Republicans like Westerman are not particularly keen on funneling taxpayer funds via multinational groups to foreign powers with dubious labor, environmental, and regulatory records.

Instead, upon assuming control of Congress in the new year, House Republicans intend to help boost American production of lithium, copper and other EV materials.

Westerman said, "We need to step up our mining activities if we're going to have an electrified economy."

Reuters reported that GOP leaders have also promised to cut the mining permit review timeline in half.

In addition to supporting American mineral extraction and refinement, Republicans are also setting about addressing the Biden administration's war on domestic mineral extraction.

A GOP aide to the House Foreign Affairs Committee told Axios, "As soon as we get into the majority, we will be getting pretty deep into it."

Study: Offshore wind farms hyped by Biden administration have 'substantial impact' on ecosystem, marine life — not in a good way



In September, the Biden administration announced its "ambitious" plans to expand American offshore wind energy "while advancing environmental justice, protecting biodiversity, and promoting ocean co-use." A new study has cast significant doubt on whether the White House's plan and similar initiatives to tackle so-called climate change can be accomplished without creating some substantial negative environmental changes all their own.

In addition to impacting regional atmosphere, "multiple physical, biological, and chemical impacts on the marine system have been identified," all resultant of these "environmentally jus[t]" solutions.

Previously, researchers had only theorized about the impact of the wind wake effect offshore wind farms had on marine life and ocean conditions. A peer-reviewed study published in the Springer Nature journal "Communications Earth & Environment" revealed that the effects of these wind farms are "substantial."

What are the details?

The study examined the impact of wind farms in the North Sea, which lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Since the sea is shallow and the wind in the region is stable, the North Sea is a "global hotspot for offshore wind energy" and home to the world's largest offshore wind farm.

The study indicated that "the ongoing offshore wind farm developments can have a substantial impact on the structuring of coastal marine ecosystems on basin scales."

Wind farms generate "an increase in sediment carbon in deeper areas of the southern North Sea ... and decreased dissolved oxygen inside an area with already low oxygen concentration."

The resultant changes in nutrient concentration could start "a cause-effect chain that translates into changes in primary production and effectively alters the food chain."

For instance, "the estimated changes in organic sediment distribution and quantity could have an effect on the habitat quality for benthic species such as lesser sandeel ... and other benthic species that live in the sediments in the deeper areas of the southern North Sea."

For the marine ecosystem, these effects might be "severe" and may affect fish and seabird species, marine fauna, and other aspects of the environment.

The severity of wind farm's effects have been known for some time. A report carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology found "a reduction in annual adult [bird] survival of up to 5% following the construction of an offshore wind farm."

Townhall highlighted the claim in the study that "economically relevant fish stocks" could see these wind farms "impact the survival of fish early life stages in specific areas" as a result of "variations in the match-mismatch dynamics with their prey or as a consequence of low oxygen conditions."

The researchers noted that future offshore wind farm installations in the works will have substantial atmospheric and thermodynamic consequences, the full implications of which are presently unclear. However, "scenario simulations provide evidence that the increasing amount of future [offshore wind farm] installations will substantially impact and restructure the marine ecosystem of the southern and central North Sea."

Consequences in America

This study focused on the impacts of wind farms on ecosystems in and around the North Sea and did not speak to what potential environmental calamity might be wrought by the installations the Biden administration has proposed for the American East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

A 2019 report from the international law firm White & Case indicated that wind farms in U.S. waters "have the potential to impact a wide range of marine life, including scallops, quahogs, clams, finfish, marine mammals and sea turtles."

In addition to these downsides to offshore wind energy, there is also the problem of the farms' construction.

TheBlaze previously reported that the construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms generate a tremendous amount of pollution. For each 500 megawatt installation, between 12,571 and 18,857 barrels of marine fuel are consumed. That amounts to 1.2% the amount of fuel consumed yearly by Amtrak.

These installations also require maintenance over the course of their 20-year lifespans, which in turn involve the use of a great deal of fossil fuels.

As the turbines are retired over the next 20 years, the U.S. will be left with an estimated 720,000 tons of unrecyclable blade material to dispose of.

The climate alarmist publication Earth.org reported that "intrusive pile-driving, seismic profiling and trenching" during offshore wind farms' construction not only disturb fish larvae, increase noise levels, and cause sedimentation of the water, but also adversely impact mammals that rely on sound for predation, migration and communication."