Hank Billings’ column today in the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader, often filled with interesting historical tidbits, struck me as a bit of unseemly whining.

He makes the dubious claim that “Does Joplin have a better press agent than Springfield or what?” by citing just two examples:

1. A “Beverly Hillbillies” television episode in which Granny and Jed crosses a busy New York City street. Jed says: “Doggies, this is as big as downtown Springfield!” Granny adds: “Or even Joplin.”
2. That Bobby Troup’s classic song “Route 66″ quotes “Joplin, Missouri” instead of “Springfield, Missouri” as one of the listed cities. “He could have written — he SHOULD have written — ‘Springfield, Missouri,’” Billings wrote. “The two cities have the same number of syllables in their name. More significantly, Springfield is the birthplace of the 66 title that inspired Troup’s song.”

On point No. 1, Billings notes that Springfield’s population has always been bigger than Joplin’s, which is true. However, Billings ignores the fact that Granny always was a bit addled, so it’s hard to take her pronouncements seriously.

As for Troup, I always figured that he chose “Joplin” over “Springfield” for his song simply because it sounds better. That brings us back to the “Beverly Hillbillies.” The scriptwriters chose Joplin for Granny’s punchline because it’s punchier.

After Billings gets that off his chest, he does a good job reviewing each town’s history. But considering that Springfield is one of the fastest-growing and dynamic towns in Missouri, you’d think he’d come up with a better strawman to knock down.

The hit Disney-Pixar movie “Cars” was bypassed for any Academy Awards victories on Sunday night, falling short in both the Best Animated Feature and Best Song categories.

And you can blame it on global warming. But more on that later.

“Cars” was favored to win Best Animated Feature, but “Happy Feet” scored a mild upset. After “Cars” scored a Golden Globe in that category, I initially figured it would be a lock for the Oscar.

But in recent weeks, I noticed momentum seemed to be swinging in “Happy Feet’s” direction. I suspected something was up when Entertainment Weekly picked “Happy Feet” for the Oscar in an online contest.

For Best Song, the winner wasn’t James Taylor’s performance of “Our Town” from “Cars.” Nor was it one of the three nominees from “Dreamgirls.” The one who walked away with the statuette was Melissa Etheridge for her performance of “I Need to Wake Up” in the Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

So what’s global warming have to do with this? Everything.

In recent months, the issue has been near the forefront of the media and watercooler discussions. And that issue no doubt was on the minds of Academy voters.

That’s why “Happy Feet,” which had a strong environmental message in its ending, edged “Cars” for Animated Feature. That’s why Etheridge’s tune, which was tied to the global-warming documentary, beat “Our Town” and songs from a Tony-winning musical.

Perhaps Academy voters thought it was someone else’s turn besides Pixar to win  Oscars for animation. Perhaps Etheridge gained sympathy votes after her recent bout with cancer. And I’m sure a few people (including myself) thought “I Need to Wake Up” was one of the best songs of her long career.

But, in the end, the global warming issue was stacked against the fossil-fuel-burning characters of “Cars.” They didn’t call Sunday night “the Green Oscars” for nothing.

I felt only mild disappointment that “Cars” went home empty-handed. I would have been crushed if the movie had been a flop when it was released back in June. With $400 million in grosses and millions more in toy and product licensing, “Cars” is anything but a failure. An Academy Award or two would have been gravy.

I don’t begrudge the global warming issue, either. For years, I’ve taken steps to reduce my energy consumption with compact fluorescent light bulbs, Energy Star appliances and fuel-efficient vehicles.

With Route 66, you can have the best of both worlds. You can cruise the Mother Road in a hybrid vehicle. With the historic highway’s lower speed limits, you conserve even more fuel. And buying from mom-and-pop businesses along the road keeps more money within the community instead of sending it to distant, often-wasteful big boxes.

Route 66ers are known as preservationists. And I count the Earth as a worthwhile preservation project, too.