This week in the PowerBlog’s Global Warming Consensus Watch: A final pass at the Sheryl Crow/Toilet Paper controversy, just to ensure that the issue is wiped clean; The fight against climate change goes to 11; Global warming causes everything, and we’ve got professional athletes to prove it; and finally, what – if anything – are those carbon offsets offsetting?

Flushing away the residue of a botched joke: As I noted earlier, Sheryl Crow has decided to inform the rest of the world that her 1 square of TP per restroom visit idea was nothing but a little joke. To be honest, I’m skeptical of the claim. Read the original post and tell me if you can tell the “joke” portion apart from the “serious” portion. All three of her proposals (the toilet paper thing, the “dining sleeve,” and the green reality show) sound pretty ridiculous to me, but not so ridiculous that it’s outside the realm of possibility for an earnest mitted environmental activist to latch on to. And by all accounts, Crow is earnest mitted to the cause. Put me down as a Sheryl Crow Joke Skeptic.In the meantime, it’s also been enjoyable to get a look inside Crow’s concert operation and see, once again, that our celebrity friends who want us all to have small carbon footprints happen to wear some pretty big carbon footwear themselves. The Smoking Gun posted a copy of Sheryl Crow’s tour rider, which reveals that it takes a fleet of 3 tractor-trailers, 4 buses, and 6 cars to allow Sheryl to encourage her audiences to ride their bikes and read by candlelight. Not to mention a surprisingly varied menu of booze (perhaps to show support for clean-burning alcohol fuels?).Universities should eat crow: Commenting on the Sheryl Crow fiasco, John McCormack notes that the “free” concert given by Crow and her associate Laurie David at George Washington University actually cost the university $21,000 for “staffing, security, on campus promotions and light hospitality…” and notes:

his is just another typical example of how university administrators bankroll left-wing causes with tuition dollars or money taken from student fees. It’s embarrassing that my soon-to-be alma mater wasted students’ money, so celebrities could bloviate about how students should “urge the country to freeze or reduce carbon emissions on a national scale by bringing the issue to their legislators.”

Wouldn’t a serious academic institution host debate between Al Gore and Bjorn Lomborg or MIT’s Richard Lindzen?

Now that’s just a silly idea, because as we all know……THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED! in a Huffington Post entry entitled “Dear Mr. Limbaugh,” Laurie David (who’s qualifications – according to her bio – appear to be concern about “the ticking time bomb that is global warming,” sitting on the board of a few environmental activist organizations, and, uh… being a television producer) reminds us all that everything that happens is attributable to global warming:

Global warming causes extreme weather in BOTH directions. For example, the reason the blizzards are getting worse in the Northeast is because the Great Lakes are no longer freezing over thus fueling the stronger snow storms that are topping the headlines and disrupting the start of the baseball season.

And that’s why we saw so many games cancelled over the last few years due to blizzards. Oh, wait: that didn’t happen. But no matter – it happened this year, and clearly that’s a trend. Still have doubts? Well, put them to rest, because Laurie has lined up a series of experts who are published in today’s most prestigious scientific journal:

Moreover, for someone who seems to follow sports so closely, I thought you may have seen the recent issue of Sports Illustrated that featured global warming on the cover. Guess not, but if you are interested in actually learning what global warming is doing to sports go to stopglobalwarming.org to see what actual athletes like Reggie Bush, Steve Nash and Chase Utley have to say about why they are taking global warming.

Chase Utley? THE Chase Utley??? He’s so dreamy! And he learned everything he needs to know about global warming from Al Gore’s movie, so clearly he’s hyper-informed and armed with all the facts, so we should really take him seriously. Riiiiight. (Via Newsbusters.)

Freeform Jazz Odyssey! Yeah!

Speaking of well-respected experts shaping public opinion: Spinal Tap are re-forming to play one of Gore’s Live Earth concerts. I’m hoping that they’ll play their great environmental anthem, Break Like The Wind.Speaking of things that stink: It appears that the emerging carbon offset industry may not be the environmental fig leaf that Al Gore and other high-profile and high-emitting opponents of emissions portray it to be:

Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on “carbon credit” projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.

A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place.

Via Don Surber, who notes:

…right-minded people already knew this. If it looks too good to be true, it is too good to be true.

And right-minded people know that there is something suspect about the hard sell of act now, if we wait until there is proof it will be too late.

We would not buy a used car this way.

More info at Newsbusters and Hot Air.

Stay tuned for more Global Warming Consensus news next week on the PowerBlog!