Articles by David Roberts

Solar Revolution author kicks up a stir

Before Gristmill became a claustrophobic circle jerk about animal rights, it used to focus quite a bit on energy issues. In those halcyon days of a week or two ago, we published an interview with Travis Bradford, author of Solar Revolution.

There was disappointingly little discussion of the interview here, but over on Alternet it kicked up quite a stir. I've asked Travis to respond to some of the questions and criticisms that came up there -- hopefully you'll see that in the next few days.

They don’t go well together

I've been meaning to write about a recent story in Time on risk perception -- in particular, on how badly we suck at it.

The basic theme is familiar by now:

We pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk, yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ignoring probabilities, building barricades against perceived dangers while leaving ourselves exposed to real ones.

And the culprit is also well-identified: a nervous system that evolved in radically different circumstances. Thanks to a jumpy little clump of tissue called the amygdala, nestled right above the brain stem, humans are finely tuned to short-term dangers. Snakes in the grass, glowering faces -- these things stimulate the amygdala and prompt a fight-or-flight squirt of hormones. That's how we survived on the savanna.

A new UN report

Bjorn Lomborgian FUD aside, it's becoming clearer and clearer that protecting the environment is not an alternative to fighting poverty and disease, but a necessary prerequisite. The latest bit of evidence comes in a new UN report:

The key Millennium Goal of halving poverty in a decade cannot be met without better environmental protection, according to a new report.

Eco-tech stuff

In one of my other lives, I'm a bit of a tech/computer/gadget geek, though by the high standards of online dorkdom, a mere amateur. Those interests don't overlap with my gristmillian preoccupations all that often -- but today, twice:

First, an amusing post on ForeignPolicy.com reveals that the avatars used in MMORPGs use as much energy -- in hardware and server cycles -- as the typical Brazilian. (If the preceding sentence means nothing to you, well, perhaps it's time to go outside and shout at the kids to get off your lawn.)

Second, ecogeek draws our attention to a truly drool-worthy new piece of hardware: the LG Ebook, which just won a Red Dot Award for design. Its display uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), which use much less energy than today's LCD monitors. And it's powered by methyl alcohol rather than lithium-ion batteries; the alcohol is stored in a blue-tinted cylinder that also serves as the hinge. Have a look: