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

  • Greens have finally got the Big Mo

    Paul Krugman had a post the other day on the “aura of inevitability” and how it finally seems to be working for progressives instead of against them. I think he’s on to something. Summer was brutal for greens. “Cap and tax” attacks were bouncing around the Foxosphere. House Dems were getting killed back home for […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Bingaman hearing on pollution allowance allocation; progressive greens beware

    When Kerry and Boxer introduced their clean energy bill earlier this month, it contained a huge gap: it said almost nothing about the allocation of pollution allowances under the cap-and-tr… er, pollution reduction and investment program. The reason for the omission is simple: Doling out what is effectively a huge new pot of money is […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Report finds massive hidden energy costs, mostly from coal

    A new report from the National Research Council on the “hidden costs of energy” is, frankly, stunning.  In a sane world, it would be headline news. Producing and using energy imposes all sorts of costs on public health, crop yields, ecosystems, recreation, educational performance … the list goes on. Many of these costs don’t end […]

    David Roberts Climate & Energy

  • Why Branson and SuperFreakonomics are wrong, in pictures

    This week, as reported by Andy Revkin, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson said something heroically, world-historically stupid: “If we could come up with a geoengineering answer to this problem, then Copenhagen wouldn’t be necessary. We could carry on flying our planes and driving our cars.” Sir Richard was talking about removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. […]

    David Roberts Climate & Energy