Weather, Water, Energy 3-2-07

• Yes, I know that oil company guys could be pretending on this in order to jerk oil prices higher, but still, what if they're not? T. Boone Pickens saying oil has peaked and Shell and BP getting into wind power? It's a good bluff if that's what they're doing. Or maybe the world is changing. Looks like our businesses have figured out the latter and now want a seat at the table before they're regulated out.
• Meanwhile, Europe is determined to let us remain the leading world power by hooking its hopes to nuclear. Although, if we go ethanol like all our opportunistic politicians are pushing now, we may have fuel but no food. And we have our own morons, advocating turning coal into gasoline. Uh . . . carbon-based emissions? Hello . . .? And the GAO does say that the US Dept of Energy has already missed all 34 deadlines set by Congress for requiring energy efficiency standards. Maybe Ecuador will be the leading world power after all.
• Think you can offset your carbon footprint by buying offsets. Well, maybe, but read this to get a better grip on what you're doing.
• But let's finish with some better news. Deeper thinking about calculating the rates of species extinction has produced conclusions that we may not be losing species at the rates previously believed or will in the future, even with global warming. That's good. They can share the heat with us . . . uh, that's a good thing? Better close now.