Articles by David Roberts

Just disapproving of society’s direction isn’t enough.

Let me wholeheartedly follow the dynamic duo at Worldchanging in recommending the latest issue of Sierra Magazine. Parting ways with what I fear is still a largely technophobic green movement, it devotes its pages to a celebration of the good technology can do for the earth.

The feature essay by Bruce Sterling will, I fear, come off as a bit airy and abstract for the non-eco-nerds who haven't immersed themselves in his other work and the issues he only briefly summarizes.

Much more concrete and, well, nifty are the profiles of tech innovators. It's a diverse bunch, each inspiring in his/her own way.

I also liked the interview with Dave Wann and Dan Chiras, two guys who instead of trying to build new eco-friendly communities are looking for ways that existing suburbs -- of which, you may have heard, there are quite a few -- can be greened.

Altogether good stuff. And it segues nicely into a very brief point I want to make about the precautionary principle, about which our own Ms. Hymas called me out:

Cognitive dissonance

"Our dependence on foreign oil is like a foreign tax on the American dream. And that tax is growing every year," Bush said. "My administration is doing all we can to help ease the problem."

Democrats say their proposal encouraging a 40 percent reduction in imports by 2025 - a figure they say represents more than 7.5 million barrels of oil a day - would send a strong signal about the nation's intent without instituting requirements about how to reach that goal. Republican leaders said the goal could not be attained without steep increases in automotive fuel efficiency.

"It's clearly nothing that anybody could achieve," said Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico and the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

A roundup of the latest and greatest in nuke-bashing

I've flirted with the notion that nuclear power is an appropriate short-term bridge from our current dysfunctional energy portfolio to one that is clean and renewable. But the closer I look, the stinkier it gets.

There's this problem that Andy raised. There's also this argument from Patrick Doherty. And of course Gristmill readers have made great points in this thread, this thread, and elsewhere.

Now, some more fuel for the fire. Tim at The Future Is Green points out that world uranium production has already peaked:

Carl on Cooney

Carl Pope has one of the best and most comprehensive roundups I've read of L'affaire Cooney.