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The Upside of Global WarmingThe Weekly Standard fights the conventional wisdom on environmentalism.

By Morgan Smith
Updated Tuesday, April 8, 2008, at 2:33 PM ET
Weekly Standard

Weekly Standard, April 14
A piece that casts aspersions on global warming "gibberish" looks on the bright side of the meteorological forecast that the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer by 2030. The piece suggests that subsistence-hunting Inuits "might find better work in the oil and gas sector, as high energy prices and melting ice make the Arctic an increasingly attractive area for exploration." As for the outcry over decreasing polar bear populations, the piece proposes that if "the threat to the bears from climate change is real," they could be "relocated." … An article dissects Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's first year in office for clues as to how an Obama presidency would play out. It offers a bleak forecast: "If Deval Patrick is indeed a preview of Barack Obama, the lesson is buyer beware. … [He is] little more than a machine politician packaged with a New Age ribbon of hope."

New Republic

New Republic, April 23
In a special issue on the environment, a piece by Jeffery Rosen examines conservatives' strategies against environmental regulation. They first undermined the Environmental Protection Agency in the name of states' rights, "then attacked any states that tried to pass broader environmental protections." But Rosen suggests "conservatives may have unwittingly checkmated themselves" now that Congress and state legislators are in a "pro-environmental mood." … An article probes the apparent ill will among John McCain's staffers and says McCain is "a patriarch presiding over a brood of squabbling children vying for Daddy's affection." The antagonism stems from a schism between loyalists who back longtime McCain adviser John Weaver and current campaign manager Rick Davis, who links Weaver to the February New York Times article on McCain's inappropriate connection to a lobbyist. The staffer divide has "the potential to violently erupt" because of the candidate's reluctance to choose sides. 

Newsweek

Newsweek, April 14
The cover story explores how green issues have emerged at the forefront of the 2008 election, with all three candidates holding stronger-than-average (at least, the average Republican, in McCain's case) records on the environment. According to the piece, there's been a shift in the American conscious toward "environmentalism as a broad-based political force, rather than an elite preoccupation of people concerned about the effect of rising sea levels on beachfront property." … Daily Kos publisher Markos Moulitsas argues in an op-ed that the protracted Democratic race has been good for the party. It's reawakened Democratic constituencies in states the primary season usually bypasses. It's also helped Obama prepare for the general: "After living a charmed political life, with nary a serious general-election battle against a Republican on his résumé, he needed to prove his mettle in hand-to-hand political combat."

Good

Good, May/June 2008
In a cover package devoted to China, a piece profiles Orange County—the one outside of Beijing. If this gated community that promotes itself as "pure American" is "to be typical of development in the new China, it would seem that the world's most populous country is hurtling toward a dystopian future—and taking the rest of the planet with it." … In an interview, Tibet's prime-minister-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, argues against boycotting the Olympic Games: "[W]e wish that a large number of free countries will participate in these games, and that that will have some kind of positive effect on the Chinese government for more transparency and more individual freedom." … A comprehensive foldout explains everything from how the Chinese name their babies to China's 10 largest companies. It also includes an amusing mock-tabloid feature—the Chinese, "They're Just Like Us!"

New York

New York, April 14
A feature tells the story of "one of the untold casualties of the [AIDS] epidemic's aftershocks": Dr. Ramon Torres, once a "visionary" AIDS researcher and activist who brought treatment to New York City's homeless, now a known drug addict who "squandered his standing" among clinical circles. He currently faces felony charges of practicing medicine under the influence. As the disease "moved from a mostly deadly plague to a largely manageable condition," many "frontline veterans" like Torres have "feelings of emptiness and disillusionment." According the piece, which provides a moving history of the progression of AIDS care in the United States, a startling number of AIDS physicians have encountered drug-related criminal charges. … A piece flirts with the possibility of a gridlocked Democratic convention in a dramatization from West Wing writer Lawrence O'Donnell. Spoiler: Obama plays hardball.

The New Yorker

The New Yorker, April 14
A piece recounts the thorny tenure battle of Barnard professor Nadia Abu El-Haj, who came under fire from Israel advocacy groups for her anthropological work studying how Jews have used archeology to confirm their right to the Holy Land. The campuswide debate gained global attention when a Barnard alumna circulated a petition attacking Abu El-Haj's scholarship, citing discredited facts "gleaned from militant Zionist blogs and Web sites." The piece observes that the fierce reaction from some of college's "more sheltered" Jewish student population could stem from "their first experience of a community where Israel's policies are discussed and challenged de-facto; where Muslim students share their classrooms and Muslim professors … teach them." … In a review, Joan Acocella explains the appeal of Dancing With the Stars: It offers nostalgia for the "romance [and] glamour" of the ballroom era combined with "all the sadism and sentimentality" of reality television.

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Morgan Smith is a former Slate intern.
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