Articles by David Roberts

Pope comes out in favor of, uh, the environment

In an annual message for peace, [Pope] Benedict [XVI] strongly emphasized a theme rarely taken up in his nearly two years as pope: what he called the "ecology of peace," the idea that protecting the environment and finding alternative energy sources could also reduce conflict.

Climate change politics is in flux

Ha. I claimed just below that policymakers are unusually open to climate and energy issues right now -- and five seconds later I stumbled across a Reuters article: "Climate change catching voter attention around world." To wit:

It’s all about electricity

When I talked with Terry Tamminen a while back (I'll publish it some day, I promise!), he said something that got me thinking. As Schwarzenegger's top enviro advisor, he's been on the inside, making policy and being lobbied from all sides. He's also been a part of several environmental NGOs, doing the lobbying. So he's seen policy contests from both sides.

I asked him why green groups haven't been more effective on climate and energy issues. He said it's simple: when the business lobby goes after an issue, it speaks with a single voice. The chamber of commerce, the think tanks, and all the constituent industry groups agree on what they want. Then they lay it out to lawmakers.

Green groups, on the other hand, come in willy nilly, with a dozen different proposals, all stressing different things, frequently criticizing each other. It's all about biofuels. No, it's all about hybrids. No, it's all about carbon taxes. Etc.

Politicians want to balance competing demands. They instinctively want to find the middle. But without a clear picture of what the environmental "side" is, they don't know where the middle is.

So how can green groups unify their message on climate/energy? What kind of agenda could they all get behind? How could they present a unified end-goal to policymakers?

That's a complicated question, of course. But I'd like to offer up at least one take on such an agenda, for your perusal and feedback. Here goes:

Home-grown and filthy energy

Kill me. Just kill me.

Coal-to-liquids will emerge as a key player in a push by congressional Democrats next year for alternatives to foreign oil, two Washington energy analysts say in a report today.

But CTL technologies that draw transportation fuels from coal reserves are expensive and have a mixed environmental record, so they will need "additional and substantial government subsidies," say Christine Tezak and K. Whitney Stanco of the Stanford Washington Research Group.

That "mixed environmental record" is actually an unmitigated disaster. But hey, at least we won't be importing our environmental disaster from scary brown foreigners!

Say it with me, kids: Coal is the enemy of the human race.