The Skeptical Environmentalist

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The Skeptical Environmentalist, subtitled "Measuring the Real State of the World" is a controversial book by statistician Bjørn Lomborg that attempts to counter the Malthusian thesis that the world is headed for inevitable ecological disaster.


Lomborg originally started work on the book as an attempt to counter what he saw as anti-ecological arguments, and changed his direction as he worked on researching his arguments. He describes the views held by many environmental campaigners as "the Litany", which his book attempts to correct.

It has a large range of detailed references to primary and secondary material, and is a landmark in the development of the ecological movement. Whether you agree or disagree with Lomborg, he has at least focused the argument and the issues to be argued over in the next few years of the development of environmental policy and political advocacy.

Environmental groups as well as the scientific community have heavily criticised the book for selective use of statistics - essentially, taking the most optimistic view on the environmental damage being caused by current human activity, and the most pessimistic view of the adjustment costs of changing to less environmentally-damaging technologies.

The January 2002 issue of Scientific American contains, under the heading "Misleading Math about the Earth", a set of essays by several distinguished scientific critics of Lomborg's thesis. They claim that Lomborg is misrepresenting both scientific evidence and scientific opinion. The respected journal Nature has also published a harsh review of Lomborg's book, making comparisons between Lomborg and holocaust deniers. Lomborg has in turn published an annotated response [1] to both articles on his website (see link below).

References:

Bjørn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, Cambridge University Press 2001, ISBN: 0521010683

External links:

Reviews of the book:

For:

Against:


A bit of both:

  • "Debating the Real State of the World: Are Dire Environmental Claims Backed by Sound Evidence?", Environmental Change and Security Project, October 2, 2001. http://ecsp.si.edu/lomborg.htm
  • Nichola Wade: "From an Unlikely Quarter, Eco-Optimism". The New York Times, August 7, 2001.
See also: environmentalism -- global warming