Articles by David Roberts
David Roberts was a staff writer for Grist. You can follow him on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.
All Articles
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Americans and Climate Change: Incentives: Educators
"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.
Why don't elementary and high-school educators do a better job teaching about climate change? Find out below!
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Al Gore won’t run?
It sounds pretty final.
This will disappoint Frank Rich, who wants Gore to run as a spoiler:
Even so, let's hope Mr. Gore runs. He may not be able to pull off the Nixon-style comeback of some bloggers' fantasies, but by pounding away on his best issues, he could at the very least play the role of an Adlai Stevenson or Wendell Willkie, patriotically goading the national debate onto higher ground. "I think the war looms over everything," said Karl Rove this month in bemoaning his boss's poll numbers. It looms over the Democrats, too. But the party's leaders would rather let John Murtha take the heat on Iraq; they don't even have the guts to endorse tougher fuel economy standards in their "new" energy policy. While a Gore candidacy could not single-handedly save the Democrats from themselves any more than his movie can vanquish "X-Men" at the multiplex, it might at least force the party powers that be to start facing some inconvenient but necessary truths.
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Americans and Climate Change: Incentives: Scientists
"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.
Today, we take a look at the kind of professional incentives that discourage academic scientists from communicating with the public more clearly and forcefully about global warming.
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Let’s all buy a bicycle and break our leg
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said gas wouldn't be so high today if ANWR was in production now. He scoffed at the notion that America should kick its fossil fuel habit.
"Let's everybody buy a bicycle," Young said. "Let's all buy a bicycle and break our leg, and let's go back to being China. And by the way, who's the largest consumer of automobiles today? It's China, not us, China. They also -- and some may take me to task -- they say (the Chinese) don't burn much fuel. They burn over 7 billion barrels of oil a year."
China, according the U.S. Energy Information Administration, burns 7 million barrels of oil a day, which comes to 2.6 billion barrels a year. China was the world's third largest automobile market last year, Businessweek reported in March, after the United States and Japan.Can someone explain to me why Alaska keeps electing these people?
