Articles by David Roberts

The latest transmission from Mongo

Yesterday, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Mongo) reiterated his skepticism about climate change. He claimed that the purported concern over global warming is a front for international economic movements (I'm assuming of the socialist variety). Relatedly, Inhofe said that the U.N. is trying to impose a "global tax" and that the U.S. should cut off its funding.

And then there's this:

U.S. involvement in Iraq has been incredibly successful and developments there have been "nothing short of a miracle," Sen. James Inhofe said Monday.

Fear and environmentalism: more

(Second in a series; first part here.)

The brain's alarm circuits are clustered in an almond-shaped neural structure called the amygdala, known colloquially as the "lizard brain." When it receives warning that a threat may be present, it sends a chemical fight-or-flight signal.

The prefrontal cortex, source of higher cognitive functions, assesses whether the threat signals (which are frequent, as the amygdala operates on a bit of a hair-trigger) are worthy of attention. It acts as a check; it has to, or complex thought would be impossible. We'd always be fighting or flighting.

This simplifies things quite a bit, obviously. But it's no mere metaphor to say that fear (flight) and anger (fight) are pre-rational -- or if you prefer, arational. They are the deepest and most fundamental dispositions, what we share with every creature, amoeba and up. We humans flatter ourselves about our intellectual powers, but in the end we are animals, and hormonal danger signals can quite easily overwhelm all rational thought. Fear and anger are prior; reasons, justifications, and evidence are posterior.

Terry Tamminen leaving post in Schwarzenegger administration

Terry Tamminen, influential environmental advisor to California gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is stepping down.

Ostensibly, Tamminen is quitting to campaign for Arnie and remind voters of the governor's green record (after which he will take a post in the private sector and publish a book).

Somewhat ironically, though, Tamminen's departure casts serious doubt on whether a second Arnie term would be as green as the first.

"Terry's departure leaves a big void in the governor's office," said Bill Magavern, senior representative for Sierra Club of California. "There now is nobody with experience in the environmental movement, and you have to think that's going to make a difference when they have their internal tug of war between the business interests and the environmental promises that the governor has made."

Don't believe Tamminen made a difference in that tug of war? Listen to this (and remember to use your Corporatist Decoder Ring to translate):

Bjorn Lomborg and climate change mitigation

Bjørn Lomborg was one of this site's first targets. We still get emails about that series. Suffice to say, not much love is lost between he and Grist.

Still, Lomborg is widely influential, and the project behind his Copenhagen Consensus makes sense: figure out the most effective way to spend money to save lives and improve the world. I disagree with his conclusions and think the methodology has deep flaws, but the idea behind it is laudable.

Lomborg's got a new book out: a collection of essays called How to Spend 50 Billion, in which economists present their Copenhagen conclusions. What follows is an excerpt, with an introduction by Lomborg and parts of an essay by William R. Cline comparing various global warming mitigation strategies. Give it some thought and share your impressions in comments.