Articles by David Roberts

Green building resources

For those interested or involved in green building, two important websites: Ecospecifier and the Green Matrix, both portals with tons of information on green building techniques, materials, and resources.

(Via Treehugger and EnviroPundit.)

Hate something

Via Green Car Congress, the story of a Honda U.K. ad for new, quieter diesel engines, featuring a catchy ditty sung by Garrison Keillor that's becoming so popular there's talk of releasing it as a single. It's pretty amazing. You can watch the ad here.

Lakoff worship

George Lakoff, framing guru and pundit to the (lefty) stars, is officially hitting the halls of power. Tomorrow, he will meet with House Democrats, who are desperate for someone, anyone to help them craft a winning message.

The danger, of course, is that Lakoff's work on framing, which actually has deep roots in cognitive science, will be watered down to the point that it's just about a new collection of catchphrases. To wit:

He has suggested that same-sex marriage should be referred to as "the right to marry." Trial lawyers like vice presidential nominee John Edwards should instead be called "public protection attorneys," and the term environmental protection, which brings to mind big government and reams of regulations, should instead be termed "poison-free communities."

Lets hope the Dems take the underlying message to heart, and don't just view this as a soundbite buffet.

Bjorn again

Bjorn Lomborg has an editorial in yesterday's L.A. Times, presenting -- in extremely rudimentary form -- the results of his already notorious Copenhagen Consensus. While the composition of Lomborg's group and its specific conclusions have been harshly criticized -- in particular see John Quiggin's blog here, here, here, and here, and also this Disinfopedia entry -- it's worth saying that the enterprise itself is entirely worthy, if done properly and honestly.

It is true that aid money is not spent rationally. If it were possible to get a serious, empirical accounting of the world's problems from a wide variety of experts and use it to rationalize and prioritize spending, every enviro should be foursquare behind it, even if some enviro priorities get bumped down the list.

Sadly, Lomborg's enterprise bears little resemblance to that ideal.