Articles by David Roberts

Rising price of growing oil alternatives raises demand for oil

Oh, man, I wish I could preserve this article in amber: "Cost of raising corn grows."

Troubling news from the folks who bring you grain-based ethanol:

In February, the USDA forecast that U.S. farmers would spend 12.5 percent more on fuels and oils this year compared with last, with the highest prices this year occurring in the first six months. Fertilizer costs in 2006 are expected to be 6.5 percent higher.

While those percentage increases are smaller than they were in 2005, crop farmers' costs have risen sharply in the past several years, agribusiness leaders said.

That's right: The oil-based products and services used to raise everyone's favorite "alternative fuel" are getting more expensive.

How does Big Ag want to respond to this crisis?

Americans and Climate Change: Scientific disconnects III

"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 third part of the chapter on the challenges science and scientists face in communicating to the public about global warming. It's got some good stuff about how science is perceived by the public -- how the stable consensus is hidden under a layer of seemingly continuous change and reversals.

Framing climate change

A piece on OpenDemocracy called “Communicating climate change” dovetails nicely with the “Americans and Climate Change” report I’ve been republishing (and you’ve been reading, right?). It’s practically a truism at this point that the lack of public outcry and action on global warming has something to do with the way the issue is “framed.” (I […]

Americans and Climate Change: Scientific disconnects II

"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 second part of the chapter on the challenges science and scientists face in communicating to the public about global warming. There's lots of good stuff, but I was particularly interested in the discussion of how to convey scientifically accurate information about the connection between global warming and today's weather.