Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Antarctic Sea Ice Sets Another Record - Forbes
Indeed, none of the mainstream media are covering this important story. A Google News search of the terms Antarctic, sea ice and record turns up not a single article on the Antarctic sea ice record. Amusingly, page after page of Google News results for Antarctic sea ice record show links to news articles breathlessly spreading fear and warning of calamity because Arctic sea ice recently set a 33-year low.

Sea ice around one pole is shrinking while sea ice around another pole is growing. This sure sounds like a global warming crisis to me.
85% of Global Consumers Want More Renewable Energy
[only] 45% believed climate change is one of the big three challenges facing the globe
What's Behind the EPA's New 4-Gallon Minimum Purchase Mandate? | Kevin Drum - Mother Jones
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R–Wisc.) is fuming:
The latest mandate handed down from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is so ridiculous, even I was shocked. The EPA has now mandated how much gasoline you must buy at certain gas stations. Say hello to the Obama Administration’s four gallon minimum.
...E15 can destroy small engines. The EPA requires gas stations to post a warning sign, but we all know how much attention people pay to warning signs in gas stations. We're probably going to end up with a fair number of fried snowblowers and ATVs before this is all over.
People who buy gasoline for outdoor equipment usually only need a gallon or two. Ditto for motorcycles, many of which have gas tanks smaller than four gallons. So at gas stations that sell only E15/E10, these folks won't be able to fill up at all because they won't be able to meet the four-gallon minimum.

These aren't actually gigantic problems, and if ethanol truly had a lower carbon footprint than gasoline I might figure that it was worth going through some minor growing pains to encourage greater use of it. But it's really not. So to my surprise, I find myself agreeing with Sensenbrenner. If we ever get to the point where we can mass-produce ethanol that's truly better for the environment than petroleum (cellulosic ethanol, cane ethanol, etc.), then it might be worth going through all this. Until then, it's probably not.


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