Articles by David Roberts

Scientist cited in CEI ad repudiates misuse of his work

ThinkProgress brings news that the scientist who authored one of the studies shown briefly in the second CEI ad has issued a statement blasting CEI for using his work to "confuse and mislead the public." Good for him.

Americans and Climate Change: From science to values I

"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.

Below the fold is the beginning of the report's second chapter, which is about transitioning the climate-change debate away from science talk and toward values talk. The first part focuses on the role that religious communities could or do play. I must admit I found some of it irksome -- evangelical leaders said openly that their members are more likely to trust business leaders, don't want to hear about gloom and doom, and don't want to hear that they will have to sacrifice. Um ... these are not exactly praiseworthy biases. Perhaps instead of asking everyone else to cater to them, evangelicals should change them. But don't let me skew your perceptions -- read it and let me know what you think.

Clive Crook gets spanked

I was going to say something about the tremendously annoying article by Clive Crook in the latest issue of Atlantic Monthly. Luckily, Kurt Cobb beat me to it, and gave Crook a far more thorough smackdown than I could have.

(via EB)

Green computing standards

Joel Makower brings good news: A set of standards have been established for environmentally responsible computers: