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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Myth: Consensus on policy is possible even among those who disagree about climate change
John McCain popularized this notion during his ill-fated presidential campaign, assuring skeptical conservative audiences that whether or not they believed in climate change, they should support clean energy policy. The appeal is clear enough: climate change is politically divisive. It’s “environmental” (ew!). It’s associated with Dirty F***ing Hippies (double ew!). If everyone can agree on […]
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Myth: Europe’s experience shows that cap-and-trade can’t work
It is now widely acknowledged that Europe’s carbon trading program — the ETS — made several key mistakes in its initial trial period. The system covered a narrow slice of the EU economy, yielding a relatively small market wherein price fluctuations could not be effectively smoothed out. The data on baseline emissions was poor and […]
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Myth: Solving climate change is primarily about finding cleaner sources of energy
Wind! No, “clean coal“! Biofuels! No, natural gas! Idiots, it’s all about nuclear! Conversations about tackling climate change are perpetually dominated by disputes over which cleaner energy sources will substitute for today’s dirty energy. What’s left out? Using less energy. That is to say: demand. As it happens, getting a handle on demand is the […]
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Myth: Using less energy = sacrifice
Mention “reducing demand” to Average Jane American and she’ll assume you mean conservation: turning off lights, drying clothes on a clothesline, riding a bike to work, wearing a sweater when it’s cold inside. And when she thinks conservation, she’ll generally think, ugh, there go the dirty hippies telling me to feel guilty and be miserable […]
