Articles by David Roberts

Spinning NAS

ThinkProgress has a little more on rightwing attempts to spin yesterday's NAS report, as well as Gore's reaction to said efforts:

Gore explained that science, by nature, thrives on uncertainty and tries to eliminate it; politics, on the other hand, is vulnerable to being paralyzed by uncertainty. When science and politics converge, Gore argued, the chance for "cowardice is high."

You could say that.

Goodell on coal gasification

My officemates are furiously packing, washing, dusting, and hauling in preparation for the Big Grist Move (you could help out by sending a few dollars our way!). I fled the scene to come home, using the excuse that somebody has to keep the blog going. So I guess I better blog about something ...

On Wednesday, I had a long, fascinating conversation with Jeff Goodell, author of Big Coal. I hope we can get it up in a week or so. In the meantime, check out the great op-ed Goodell just wrote for the NYT, which echoes many of the things we discussed. It's mainly about the big push behind coal-to-liquid plants.

About sequestration:

The possibility of failure

A fascinating essay by Bryan Appleyard in The Sunday Times Magazine argues two things:

• Human civilization is facing unprecedented crises;
• the pace of innovation has long been slowing, and we may not be able to think our way out of this one.

But that woefully oversimplifies the piece. I encourage you to read the whole thing.

It reminded me of something that's been on my mind lately. To wit:

Bill and peak oil

Bill Clinton is officially on the peak oil bandwagon, and wants the nation's newspaper editors to hop on with him.

(via Oil Drum)