Articles by David Roberts

Starts with “e,” ends with “nment”?

Strangely, in this story about how the Dems are trying to learn lessons from their victories in Colorado, not a single environmental issue is mentioned -- not even the state's groundbreaking renewable energy initiative. For a slightly greener perspective, see this post.

Green votes

Will Rogers has a hopeful editorial in the NYT today, pointing out that despite the relative silence of the mainstream media on the story, environmental initiatives won broad support on Nov. 2.

Across the country, in red states and blue states, Americans voted decisively to spend more money for natural areas, neighborhood parks and conservation in their communities. Of 161 conservation ballot measures, 120 -- or 75 percent -- were approved by voters. Three-and-a-quarter billion dollars were dedicated to land conservation.

Such measures won support in areas where Kerry won and areas where Bush won. Seems to show that there's a broad consensus about conservationist issues generally, a consensus that overlaps but is not tied to support for the Democratic party.

More on this subject soon.

He made his bed …

... and now he's sleeping in it.  And boy, it doesn't look comfortable.

Last week French President Jacques Chirac took a public swipe at Tony Blair, saying he'd gotten nothing in return for his unstinting support of George W. Bush.  "I am not sure," said the francophone dryly, "that it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favors systematically."

Meanwhile, Blair has been under immense pressure at home -- from his party, the opposition party, even the Queen -- to prod the intransigent Bush on the subject of global warming. Surely, the reasoning goes, Blair should get something for tying his political fate to Bush's when other leaders wouldn't.

Well, no.  Today The Independent reports that Bush "reprimanded" Blair for making such a fuss over global warming, according to "senior Washington sources." Among other things, Blair has been planning to make global warming a central topic at the G-8 Summit in January. For this he is ... "reprimanded."  Ouch.

Blair has never wavered in his public support for W, but after such high-handed treatment, you gotta wonder if he's starting to have violent dreams.

The last thing enviros need now is a bout of radicalism

Enviros made unprecedented efforts to sway the 2004 election with legitimate tools: advertising, fundraising, rallying, knocking on doors. It didn’t work. Apparently that fact is not sitting well. The top response in a poll asking Grist readers where green-minded folks should direct their energy in the next four years was “armed resistance” — by a […]