Articles by David Roberts

Climate Wars III: Return of the Scientists

Legitimate climate scientists are at something of a disadvantage. They do careful research and publish peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals. Then a squadron of industry-funded pseudo-scientist hacks descends on the popular media to stir up doubt and confusion. By the time the scientists can defend their work in, say, Science, popular attention has moved on. Thus the false sense in the American public that there is real scientific uncertainty about the basic fact of anthropocentric climate change (when there really isn't).

Enter RealClimate.org, a new blog written by a group of bona fide climate scientists.  "We aim," they say, "to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary." Already they've got invaluable entries on the recent Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, the "hockey stick" kerfuffle, and the recent study showing that the stratosphere is cooling.

This is an essential resource -- one wishes experts in more areas would start similar blogs -- one that we'll be returning to frequently. Bookmark it.

Lights

Looking for some environmentally friendly -- yet full of holiday cheer -- lights for your tree/house/yard/plastic reindeer this season?  MetaEfficient recommends LED.

Diesel

Green Car Congress compares four Honda Accords -- a hybrid, a clean diesel, and two sedans -- and comes to a rather surprising conclusion: "The outcome: the Accord Diesel (using petroleum diesel) offers the lowest fuel consumption and the lowest CO2 emissions, even surpassing the Accord Hybrid."

UPDATE: Here's a follow-up post comparing different versions of the Honda Civic.

The people on top of our oil

It was published the day before the election, so it didn't get the attention it should have, but it's worth your time to go back and read Daniel Glick's piece in Salon about Bush's renewed push to drill in Alaska's Northeast National Petroleum Reserve and the threat it poses to the Eskimo way of life. NPR-A is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's less-celebrated cousin, but at 23.5 million acres, it's the largest chunk of public land in the U.S. It's worth some attention, and so is the life the Eskimos there have lived for hundreds of years.