There have been rumors going around that the Bush administration is going to do a turnabout in their policies on global warming. Not surprisingly this was denied yesterday while they reiterated their belief that ethanol is the answer. This is not an energy independence policy- ethanol is the route the oil companies want us to take:
- Ethanol based on plant material is extremely dependent on fossil fuels for its production, requiring oil for farm equipment and the production of fertilizers
- An ethanol economy would require the exact same distribution model as gas, keeping the oil companies firmly in control of their cash cow
- Very few cars burn ethanol and it is extremely corrosive, creating all kinds of problems with delivery and usage, not to mention the potential for environmental damage
The conversion of farms to grow plant materials for fuel will have a major impact on food production worldwide. Currently it is very inefficient to grow plant material for ethanol production and we will see there being a choice, in the new future, between feeding the world’s poor and driving.
What we are not hearing from Bush is any conservation requirements whatsoever. If we required automakers to build 50MPG cars in two years, which they can easily do, we wouldn’t need this ill-conceived ethanol boondoggle (which, BTW, we are paying for via farm subsidies).

"A growing body of scientific opinion suggests the world may be about to experience not a gradual rise in temperatures over several decades but a wild careening into climate chaos.A growing body of scientific opinion suggests the world may be about to experience not a gradual rise in temperatures over several decades but a wild careening into climate chaos."

This balanced article (quote above is a LInk) notes a major concern: Though scientific opinion is divided on whether we face a gradual warming or a possibly rapid change, the political planners are only considering the gradual possibility.

Should those who see a ‘wild careening’ into massive changes be right, we will be totally unprepared to cope with those changes.

In this UK article, writer George Monbiot asserts that a major disinformation campaign on global warming is being funded by Exxon, and oddly enough, Phillip Morris, the tobacco giant. No, they’re not worried that smoking is perceived as a cause of climate change- instead they apparently created a policy group and had them start attacking scientific consensus on warming as a cover for campaigns supporting smoking from the same group. The idea is to legitimize their group by showing they do all kinds of policy issues, not just smoking-related coverage.

If true, this is ultra creepy and signals  a corporate culture that has completely abandoned any semblance of ethics both as business(es) and as individuals within those companies. Bad karma.

Watch out for Shiva, Goddess of Destruction…

Wow, we’re starting to see the mad scientist ideas coming out of the woodwork. Let’s build huge artificial volcanos to spew dust into the atmosphere to cool the earth. The idea is to create a temporary slowdown of warming so we have more time to get our act together. Every couple of years they’d shoot more stuff into the sky. Am I crazy or does this seem like a pretty bad idea?

Shades of Professor Frink…