Articles by David Roberts

The loneliness of the long distance … reporter

The situation with global warming in the U.S. media is truly strange.

In the political press, the issue is pretty much invisible. There are lots of good stories in the science and health departments, but there are very, very few daily reporters tasked with exploring all the facets of what is likely to be the biggest story of the century.

So what's it like for those few reporters that do follow it?

For a brief but fascinating glimpse, check out this post from Bill Blakemore, who covers global warming full-time for ABC News. It's about the psychological effect of understanding an enormously dangerous and consequential story before the public at large does.

It will be a relief -- albeit a sad one -- as more and more of the public begins to acknowledge and deal with the true scale and impact of this story, as seems to be happening now, so that we who cover it may come to feel less isolated.

Americans support a gas tax if revenues go toward energy independence

A new New York Times/CBS poll contains extremely interesting results with regard to a gas tax.

Unfortunately, the write-up in the NYT is rather garbled. Best to go look at the poll itself (PDF).

If you ask people straight out, "do you favor a gas tax," the answers is overwhelmingly (85%) No. Even if you promise to reduce other taxes --payroll and income -- by the same amount, the answer is still (63%) No.

But if the question is, "would you support a gas tax if it reduced U.S. dependence on foreign oil" or "would you support a gas tax if it cut down on energy consumption and reduced global warming," the results reverse pretty dramatically. The "foreign oil" question gets 55% in favor and the "energy consumption and global warming" question gets 59% in favor.

(Even more intriguing: When the question is, "would you support a gas tax if the proceeds were used to fight the war on terror," 71% still oppose.)

Take-home message: U.S. citizens want to reduce oil use, energy consumption, and global warming. And they're willing to pay for it.

For chrissake, if we have any politicians left with a pair and the sense God gave a turkey, they would jump on this. Americans crave it. They want to be asked to sacrifice. They want to be involved. They just need an opportunity.

Planning and development books

Interested in land use and urban planning? Like to read? If so, you'll want to check out the Planetizen Top 10 Books of 2005 list.

Interviewing Rabbi Michael Lerner

Later today (Monday), I'll be sitting down for a chat with Rabbi Michael Lerner, who -- among his many accomplishments -- is the founder and editor of Tikkun.

What should I ask him?