Articles by David Roberts

Your coaly future

The graph under the fold is taken from the Energy Information Administration's International Energy Outlook 2006. Read it and weep.

New study on global warming and hurricanes

The report from the National Academy of Sciences was not the only climate study released today. A pair of scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research released a study -- to be published in the coming issue of Geophysical Research Letters -- that purports to show that the majority of the warming of ocean waters that led to the horrendous hurricane season of 2005 is attributable to global warming.

Sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic in 2005 were an average of 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1900-1970 average:

NAS hockey stick report

So the big climate news today is the release of a report by the National Academy of Sciences (coverage from: AP; NYT; WaPo; MSNBC; NPR; Boston Globe). It's being spun every which way, but at its root it's (yet another) confirmation of basic global warming science.

You've probably heard of the climate "hockey stick." It's a graph from a study led by Penn State's Michael Mann that shows global average temperatures sharply spiking in recent years. A couple of guys named Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick -- a statistician and an economist, respectively -- took issue with the study and claimed that Mann had cherry-picked his data and his statistical tools to produce the result he wanted.

In recent years, the hockey stick has become a cause célèbre among right-wing global warming denialists. It is mentioned with mind-numbing regularity by every crank given the keys to an op-ed page, and has become something of a white whale-style obsession for the Mayor of Cranktown, Sen. James Inhofe.

Everyday people making changes

A national news magazine that shall remain nameless is looking for people who are making green changes in their lives -- average middle-class folk, not hairshirt-hardcore types, just people offsetting their flights or buying hybrids or boosting their house's insulation or other such modest changes.

We said we'd help them find people. If you know of anyone that fits that description -- or if you fit that description -- write to grist [at] grist.org with the word "greening" in the subject line.

You could be famous!