Articles by David Roberts

New Scientist article bleg

I too want to see the New Scientist article mentioned in this Sustainability Zone post, but I don't have a subscription either.

So I turn to my reader(s?): Do any of you have a subscription? And if so, could you send me a copy of the article? The abstract is here.

Kevin Drum concedes too much in his post on oil policy.

Part 5 of Kevin Drum's series on peak oil is out. In it, he turns from describing the phenomenon to considering what should be done about it. It's at once the most interesting and frustrating entry in what is, I should say, an excellent overall series. (If you know someone looking for an easily-digestible primer on the subject, you won't find better.)

Before I get into the weeds, let me say why I find this last entry frustrating.

As the era of cheap oil ends -- and it's already happening -- a great deal of power politics will be going on behind the scenes. There are lots of very large, entrenched financial and political interests involved in the oil game, to say the least. It is to their benefit that the transition to a post-oil world happen with as little disruption (for them, that is) as possible. If there's one iron law of socio-politics, it's that power's first imperative is to preserve power.

However, the path of least resistance for those powerful interests may not be the healthiest or safest path for the rest of us.

Greens rightly view the end of cheap oil not only as a threat but an opportunity (and no, the chinese character says no such thing). There will be some big changes. Ideally, some of those changes will meliorate things about how we live that are harmful, either materially or psychologically, and others will open up new ways of living and interacting.

Greens -- no, humanists -- should view it as their mission to advocate, early and consistently, for the kinds of changes that will do the most good for the most people, over the long term. Sometimes that will overlap with the changes advocated by the powers that be, sometimes it won't. But we should be the voice of the people; the post-oil transition is as much a populist, social-justice issue as it is environmental.

Getting back to Drum:

Joel Makower summarizes the many options for those seeking climate-neutral driving.

You've probably heard about "green tags," whereby businesses -- or events, or rock bands, or whatever -- can offset the carbon emissions of their activities by paying for clean energy credits (debits?). As the preceding sentence (doesn't) make clear, it's not entirely easy to explain exactly what a green tag is, or what it does, or how to get one.

Now a whole host of websites have popped up offering to let you offset your own personal CO2 emissions -- that is, your driving. But the services of said websites work with different figures, cost different amounts, and produce different results. What's a confused, eco-conscious driver to do?

Fear not. Joel Makower has just written a fascinating and comprehensive summary of the whole "climate-neutral driving" schtick. Get thee and read it.

Freedom is messy

Kind of hard to focus on amidst the daily slaughter, but Iraq's environmental situation is horrible and getting steadily worse.