Articles by David Roberts

Will this help break the offsets market out of its niche status?

In a matter of moments, carbon-offset outfit TerraPass will be announcing a partnership with Expedia, the online travel site. The deal is, when folks book their flights through Expedia, they'll have a chance during the checkout process to offset (their share of) their flight's emissions. Short flights will go for $5.99, longer cross-country flights for $16.99, and international flights (13,000 miles or more) for $29.99.

This is a cool deal that I think will do a lot to break the offsets market out of its niche status. Right now, energy users have to initiate the process -- go to terrapass.com and calculate their own offsets. That's inherently limiting.

Now, it's just another part of booking travel. I'll bet dimes to dollars that other online travel sites will be doing this same thing within a year.

Vacation

Obviously, my (interminable) series on fear and environmentalism raises more questions than it answers. It's woefully schematic. There's much more to be said. I hope, if nothing else, this will prompt people to start talking about this stuff. Advocates for reason and compassion are often derided as fuzzy-headed and unrealistic, despite the obvious failure of fear and violence to produce anything of worth. They need to start defending themselves more explicitly, and more proudly. They are in the right.

Anyway.

Later this evening, I'm heading out in the trusty minivan with the trusty family to spend a week lounging in a cabin on Flathead Lake in Montana. My plan is to wage an aggressive campaign of leisure. I will not stop until unconditional relaxation has been declared.

While I'm gone I'll be leaving the blog in the hands of its many other capable contributors. I'm sure they'll do you proud.

See you next week!

Reason. Compassion. Forbearance. Selflessness. These are not the hallmarks or our time.

(Fifth in a series; first part here, second part here, third part here, fourth part here.)

Reason. Compassion. Forbearance. Selflessness. These are not the hallmarks or our time.

We live in an ascendant cycle of fear, anger, violence, and reprisal. (To see it all summed up in one small, fetid package, read this.) But progressives should not pretend that the cycle is of any use to them, or that its force can be marshaled to more noble ends. We might gain some short-term victories by scaring the crap out of people, but a population in fear will always tend toward authoritarianism and violence.

Reason, compassion, forbearance, and selflessness are the building blocks of true progressivism. If they have been driven underground, the progressive response should not be to resort to reactionary macho posturing, but to revive them.

We will build nothing, create nothing, inspire nothing of worth while in the grip of fear.

(Fourth in a series; first part here, second part here, third part here.)

We will build nothing, create nothing, inspire nothing of worth while in the grip of fear.

It is often said that violence "sends a message" to this or that recipient. Often the alleged message is about the firmness of our resolve -- "we really mean it!" We send messages of this nature to the Middle East fairly regularly these days; its inbox is full. Israel sends the message to Lebanon. Russia sends the message to Chechnya. Indonesia sends the message to its separatists. And so on.

This is bullshit of the most pernicious possible sort.