Hot Air and You.(Column)

Byline: Kevin A. Wilson

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Correction: Kevin A. Wilson's "Opposite Lock'' column on page 14 should say that the European Commission has recommended an 18-percent fuel-efficiency improvement by 2012. The measure is not a mandate.

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With a consortium of scientists backed by the UN saying they're 90 percent certain that 90 percent of climate change results from human activity, some car enthusiasts still want to argue about why the polar bears are swimming instead of walking on ice. Go ahead, there are plenty of quibbles you can take up, but know that you're undermining your cause. Just as no one believes the auto industry when they say "We can't'' anymore, the climate argument has moved on from "Are we causing this?'' to "What can we do?'' The business is global, and these matters have been on the front burner in other countries for more than a decade now, so most people in the car industry are far ahead of you on this one, anyway.

The time is past for foot-dragging in D.C. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises "something'' by July 4. What might that mean for those who are passionate about cars not just as transportation but as hobby, sport, business opportunity?

People who assume that change will wreck our economy baffle me. If we changed unilaterally, perhaps, but that's not the case. For instance, the European Union just mandated an 18 percent gain in fuel efficiency by 2012. Improvements in energy efficiency should be ...