Global Warming Myth Follow Up

Yesterday, I pointed out that single working moms can't buy milk for their four year olds because of questionable science and government intervention, which has foisted ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels. Even if you were to choose to ignore that New Mexico's economy would collapse tomorrow if it weren't for fossil fuels. You've got to recognize that ranching communities, including those in New Mexico, are suffering because of the high cost of feed as a result of such misguided efforts as federal subsidies for ethanol production. So, we've got rising milk prices. We've got rising beef prices. Oh, and did I mention that we have less jobs:

“Rural communities need both livestock and ethanol production,” says Lawrence, who was also a key BQS presenter. But livestock production is worth more jobs.

According to studies at Iowa State University, using a 50-million-gal. ethanol plant as an example, 18.5 million bu. of corn are required. The plant accounts for 35 workers directly, as well as 98 created and induced jobs, or 133 jobs all together. Funnel that same amount of corn through a feedlot, and you're talking 140 jobs before considering the employment created further downstream in packing and processing.

“Ethanol production is a low-labor business; livestock production is a high-labor business,” Lawrence says.

All of these changes are occurring because the government has embraced the idea that the world is warming. Now, for the global warming irony:

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.

In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

Read that last sentence again, "Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans." This coming from a report on National Public Radio - not exactly a beacon of conservatism.

Burying the Culprit in the Last Line

The Law of Unintended Consequences is at play again. This time, it is making it hard for a working mother to buy milk for children (subscription):

Maybe instead of "thank you," the folks who have just checked out your groceries should say "sorry."

Not that it's their fault your food bill is wiping out your movie money and vacation fund. Checkers are also spending 37 percent more on eggs and 29 percent more on milk than they did a year ago. Industry watchers are saying 80 percent of grocery prices are likely to rise and stay high for years.

Moms are reporting they're cutting their children's milk consumption.

Elaine Martinez had just finished her shopping at Lowe's Super Save at Lomas and 12th. She considers herself lucky that her 4-year-old, Christopher, likes healthful foods, but he can't have as much as he used to.

"It's awful to tell him he can't have milk; he has to have water," she said. "It's not something as a mother I want to say to my child."

Now if you didn't read this whole article until the end, you might think this would be an article about economic recession. You know, something that Democrats might try to blame on the Republicans, but it's not.

But corn is also a factor. It used to be food for humans and cattle. Now a lot of it is used for corn-derived ethanol to replace gasoline. Fields previously devoted to wheat, soy beans and corn for human consumption are producing corn for ethanol.

That's right, producing food for human consumption has taken a backseat to dealing with the mythical global warming crisis. This is a result of the environmental hysteria created by people like Al Gore, which has in turn led to the nonsensical production of ethanol.

The next time you hear a candidate running on their environmental record and telling you how important it is that we use alternative sources of fuel for our vehicles, I hope you picture a 4-year old boy like Christopher who has to drink water instead of milk.