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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Hummer tax
The editors of The New Republic endorse what they call a “Hummer tax.” Wonks, in their pithiest mode, refer to the Hummer Tax as a “feebate” system. Under such a system, the government would either slap a tax or offer a rebate on newly purchased vehicles based on the vehicle’s fuel-efficiency rating. For instance, a […]
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More interview with Mike Davis
Part two of Tom Engelhardt's interview with Mike Davis is up. Davis is the author of City of Quartz and, most recently, Planet of Slums.
More great stuff. I particularly like this:
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Survivaballs!
Halliburton Solves Global Warming
SurvivaBalls save managers from abrupt climate change
An advanced new technology will keep corporate managers safe even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible. [Speech, photos]
"The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way," said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative who spoke today at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. "This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change," he said to an attentive and appreciative audience. -
Wind farm follies
So, it seems they're going to build the nation's largest wind farm off the coast of Padre Island in Texas. Environmentalists are up in arms about ... wait for it ... the birds. Oy.
This bit from Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson is amusing:
"Those who are concerned about view sheds shouldn't have a problem," he said. "There's nobody there to look at it."
Nice bank shot!
Speaking of view sheds and wind farms, I confess I haven't been following the latest drama over the much-discussed Cape Wind project all that closely, cause it makes me want to pull my hair out.
First Sen. Don Young (R-Alaska) offered an amendment to kill it. I think that one died. Then Young offered another amendment giving Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, a longtime project opponent, the power to kill it. In conference committee, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) whittled the amendment down so it only applied to wind projects in Nantucket Sound and then attached it to a Coast Guard funding bill.
