Saturday, February 21, 2009

High Hopes, Low Expectations, and Deep Fears - Chris Horner - Planet Gore on National Review Online
...Some of the issues were admitted in the Greenwire story: Democrats do not know what kind of bill they want (cap-and-trade? or a tax?); further divisions exist within the Democratic caucus; and numerous committees will, ahem, “help” this time, on the heels of last year's Barbara Boxer-led debacle. Now just toss those on top of the elephant in the bathtub — that the members are very wary of being blamed for doing this to you, particularly during a recession.
The Plug | Climate Skeptic
I have always been suspicious of climate models, in part because I spent some time in college trying to model chaotic dynamic systems, and in part because I have a substantial amount of experience with financial modeling. There are a number of common traps one can fall into when modeling any system, and it appears to me that climate modelers are falling into most of them.
Brazil's Ethanol Madness Exposed :: The Market Oracle
(Luft's claim completely ignores the fact that since 1980, Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, has been growing its oil production by an average of 9 percent per year thanks to its offshore drilling prowess. Since 1998, Brazil has doubled its oil production and is now producing about 2 million barrels of oil per day. Neither Friedman nor Luft bothered to mention that fact.)
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The most compelling quote in the piece is from Father Tiago, a 66 year-old Scottish monk who has been working in Brazil for decades. The Scotsman makes clear what he thinks about the issue: "The promise of biofuel is a lie. Anyone who buys ethanol is pumping blood into his tank,” he said. “Ethanol is produced by slaves."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent article. Just one very minor comment. The protective clothing worn by the workers is to protect them from the leaves of the sugar cane. Its leaves, shaped like very long grass blades, are somewhat stiff with finely serrated edges that can produce a nasty cut on exposed bare skin.

Dalcio