Articles by David Roberts

David Roberts was a staff writer for Grist. You can follow him on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.

All Articles

  • Policy in an age of post-truth politics

    Obama still doesn’t get it.Photo: White HouseAs Joe Romm noted the other day, Ezra Klein has an interesting column in WaPo making the case that, in terms of policy, Obama “is a moderate Republican of the early 1990s.” Putting aside the emergency measures responding to the economic crisis, Obama’s signature initiatives have been a health-care […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Want people to get on board with a shift to clean energy? Shield them from economic insecurity

    Some risks are more immediate than others.Photo: A SynYesterday I ran across a pair of posts that got me thinking about risk and resilience. (Confession: Almost everything these days makes me think about risk and resilience.) First there’s this extremely smart piece from economist Jason Scorse. It makes an argument that I wish had gotten […]

    David Roberts Energy
  • I'm climbing in my douchecanoe to paddle back into the debate over the green-bashing by the Breakthrough crowd.
    I'm climbing in my douchecanoe to paddle back into the debate over the green-bashing by the Breakthrough crowd.

    Why I’ve avoided commenting on Nisbet’s ‘Climate Shift’ report

    Last week, Matt Nisbet, an associate professor at American University, released a report called “Climate Shift.” It argued that, contrary to what most people think, pro-climate-bill forces spent more than their opponents, media coverage of climate science has been generally fair, and Al Gore is just as responsible as Republicans for politicizing the subject of […]

    David Roberts Science

  • Open letter to a conservative climate change convert

    Mr. Tucker, Your story about transitioning from climate skepticism to climate realism has gotten quite a bit of attention and interest among folks on “my side” of that debate, as you can imagine. I had wondered if it were still possible for people to be “defeated by facts” and change their minds about issues tangled […]

    David Roberts Science