Articles by David Roberts

An emerging environmental majority?

Christina Larson — who occasionally contributes to this very blog — has an important piece in Washington Monthly called "The Emerging Environmental Majority." While it’s a great article and an important contribution to the discussion about where environmentalism’s heading, I think a couple of crucial points are, at the very least, tenuous, and deserve further […]

Cohen on Gore

Richard Cohen -- a commentator I normally loathe, for reasons of interest only to other polico-wonko-dorko-blogo-types -- has a good column today about Al Gore's new movie.

In the meantime, he is a man on a mission. Wherever he goes -- and he travels incessantly -- he finds time and an audience to deliver his (free) lecture on global warming. It and the film leave no doubt of the peril we face, nor do they leave any doubt that Gore, at last, is a man at home in his role. He is master teacher, pedagogue, know-it-all, smarter than most of us, better informed and, having tried and failed to gain the presidency, he has raised his sights to save the world. We simply cannot afford for Al Gore to lose again.

Shill news

On E Magazine, Jim Motavalli's done an interview with Frank Maisano, a guy who's spent his life as an extremely successful communications guy -- shill -- for polluting industries. Disturbingly, Maisano comes off as congenial, reasonable, well-informed. I prefer my evil people more evil, please.

Also -- I should have noted this weeks ago -- don't miss Mark Hertsgaard's piece from the recent Vanity Fair green issue. Most of it covers ground familiar to Grist readers, about how a well-funded campaign kept controversy about global warming alive long after the science was settled. What's new is the exposure of one Dr. Frederick Seitz, a former president of the National Academy of Sciences. According to Hertsgaard, Seitz helped lead an effort to produce research for tobacco companies to fight off bad publicity in the 70s and 80s. Then, in the 90s, Seitz smoothly transitioned to climate contrarianism. It's a fascinating tale.

On Tech Central Station, Nick Shulz calls Hertsgaard's piece a smear job. Eli Rabett read through the tobacco company documents and says that, no, Seitz really is a shill. Tim Lambert has a roundup.

$144,573 a day

Speaking of newly retired Exxon chairman Lee Raymond, an analysis commissioned by the New York Times recently determined that he made $144,573 per day for the length of his tenure with the company.

Not bad.