Articles by David Roberts

The CAFTA vote

Don't miss Sam Rosenfeld's post on last night's CAFTA vote. It enough to turn the stomach. See also tpmcafe for a discussion thread and this intriguing mention of possible House voting shenanigans.

Over at redstate, of course, they're pleased as punch.

Also, as I forgot to mention last time: We ran a great op-ed on CAFTA back in June.

Turns out the Apollo folks don’t like it either

Beneath the fold is an op-ed written in reaction to the energy bill by Robert Borosage and Joel Rogers. Borosage is co-director of the Campaign for America's Future and co-founder, with Rogers, of the Apollo Alliance.

A letter from a dozen green groups to Congress

Yesterday, a letter opposing the energy bill was sent to Congress, signed by the following environmental groups: Alaska Wilderness League, American Rivers, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, National Audubon Society, National Environmental Trust, Natural Resources Defense Council, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, U.S. PIRG, and Union of Concerned Scientists.

The full text of the letter is below the break.

A debate over environmental priorities never gets at the real point

J.H. Adler points us to a debate in the pages of Foreign Policy between Bjørn Lomborg and Carl Pope. Since I read the whole thing, here's the highlight reel, so you don't have to:

Pope: "The global environmental dilemma teems with both risks and opportunities."

Lomborg: "Yes, we have problems. But we have solved many more. Yes, we can solve those that remain, but not all at once. We need priorities."

P: "True, we need priorities. ... Having priorities doesn't always mean Sophie's choice."

L: "I'm glad you agree that we need priorities. But I worry that your commitment is rhetorical."

P: "No, Bjørn, Sophie's choice is avoidable."

L: "... You insist that there are no real trade-offs between the environment and prosperity. ... It is not that environmental projects are not worthwhile. ... Often, there are other, better projects that must come first."

P: "... You keep posing artificial choices... It is simply not the case that the world -- or the United States -- does only one thing at a time."

L: "Advocacy groups understandably want to focus on headline-grabbing issues ... But when we emphasize some problems, we get less focus on others."

P: "Bjørn, you ignorant slut ... "

Okay, that last one was an embellishment.