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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.

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  • Friday music blogging: The Cinematic Orchestra

    Of late, I have become obsessed with the soundtrack to a French Disney nature film that, as far as I can tell, hasn’t come out yet. I don’t know if it will ever come out in the states. It’s called Les Ailes pourpres: le mystère des flamants, which a little bit of online translation tells […]

  • Cap-and-trade vs. carbon tax: a bird in hand is worth two on Alpha Centauri

    Tax! Cap! Tax! Cap! Pant … I find it really hard to believe, but the perennial “carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade” debate is still going on. It goes on and on and on and it never changes. It’s like everyone’s following a script now. I’ve been over this territory so many times that I hardly know […]

  • Why mandate renewables if we already have a cap on CO2?

    A question I hear frequently (in wonk circles anyway): If the U.S. implements a declining cap on CO2, why does it also need a national Renewable Portfolio Standard? (For non-wonks, some basic background: a declining cap on CO2 emissions would, theoretically, force electric utilities to find low-carbon alternatives. An RPS would dictate that utilities generate […]

  • Republican incoherence on climate change

    There’s been lots of bashing of Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) here on Grist lately — see Kate here, Brad here — and with good reason. The guy has a good chance of being the next Republican House leader and he is, to put it bluntly, dumb as a box of hair. Guy like this, it’s […]