Articles by David Roberts

Oklahoma Senator kicks off series of speeches

Chris Mooney, indefatigable chronicler of science politicization (say that five times fast!), draws our attention to the kick-off of Oklahoma Sen. and unrepentant flat-earther James Inhofe's promised series of speeches debunking mainstream climate science. It is, predictably enough, chockablock with misrepresentations, cherry-picked facts and phrases, and outright falsehoods. Head to Mooney's for the details, and if you have the stomach for it, read the speech itself.

Someday, our children will find this in the history books and marvel at how truly bizarre our political culture was in this transitional phase at the end of the oil economy.

The Bush administration’s grumbling about Iran is ultimately about energy

TomDispatch is running a fascinating essay by Michael T. Klare, author of Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Oil. It's about the role oil plays in the growing discord between the U.S. and Iran -- which in the mainstream press, as always, is covered credulously as a question of WMD (namely Iran's nuclear program) alone. But Iran has more untapped oil reserves than any country other than Saudi Arabia, and more untapped natural gas than any country outside of Russia.

It might seem fantastical that this same administration could once again invade an oil-rich Middle Eastern country on the pretext of removing WMD, but ... well, lots of fantastical things have happened since 2000. There are signs that preparations are underway, best summarized in the important reporting of the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh.

Those concerned about global warming, or the direction this country will take when the coming oil shocks hit, would do well to educate themselves on these sorts of geopolitical issues.

Anyway, check out Klare's essay. Here are the two money shots:

The founder of Earth Day reflects, 35 years later

There's not a whole lot new in this essay by Earth Day founder Denis Hayes, but it's good reading as that day approaches. I would just echo Jeff in saying that Hayes focuses a little too exclusively on politics. The business and cultural realms are if anything more fecund sources of creative green ideas these days.

Below the fold, I reproduce an exerpt from a Robert Kennedy speech, taken from Hayes' essay. As an exercise for readers, imagine George W. Bush -- really picture the posture, the intonations, the accent -- speaking these words:

An essay by Stewart Brand challenges four eco-dogmas

My last post was prelude to pointing readers to "Environmental Heresies," by Whole Earth Catalogue-founder Stewart Brand (via Commons). He begins this way:

Over the next ten years, I predict, the mainstream of the environmental movement will reverse its opinion and activism in four major areas: population growth, urbanization, genetically engineered organisms, and nuclear power.

To which I would say: