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Title: The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World by Bjorn Lomborg ISBN: 0-521-01068-3 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 30 August, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.46 (276 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Read the book, not the press releases
Comment: It is unfortunate people are writing reviews for a book they have apparently not read. Instead, they have read the reactions including the shallow responses in the Scientific American and the findings Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (a group that sounds a bit Orwellian to me).
For all the sturm und drang, Lomborg basically extends the arguments made by economist Julian Simon and others. Ironically, Lomborg began his work interested in refuting Simon. His analysis of the information led him to question the claims made by the environmental orthodoxy.
The book itself is rather dry. Lomborg is a statistician by training and trade. The book (and the subsequent outcry by environmentalists), however, have become required reading for those interested in environmental science (as opposed to the post modern worship of Gaia, the planet earth).
Lomborg basically uses existing data from established sources to make his case. While Lomborg falls short of making a case for a pollyanna view of the environment, he does present enough interesting data to raise some questions about some of the environmental community's articles of faith.
The problem here is less Lomborg's data and methods, but a readership thoroughly convinced he is wrong before actually opening the book. Since the 1960s, there has been a steady beat on the drum of environmental doom. Most people find it difficult (if not impossible) to believe the air and water (at least in America) are actually cleaner today than in the recent past.
Like any tome that challenges an orthodoxy, Lomborg is probably best read by those few remaining souls who are willing to keep an open mind. If nothing else the work of Lomborg, Simon and others demonstrate that debates over the environment are far from settled... much to the chagrin of some.
Rating: 5
Summary: In Defense of Lomborg
Comment: In the interest of balance (and also in response to the anti-Lomborg crowd who couldn't wait to dutifully and delightfully report on the Denmark Committee's baseless charge of scientific dishonesty), here's an assessment from the Jan 9th edition of The Economist which dismisses the panel's ruling as 'incompetent and shameful':
The Skeptical Environmentalist" is explicitly not concerned with conducting scientific research. Rather, it measures the "litany" of environmental alarm that is constantly fed to the public against a range of largely uncontested data about the state of the planet. The litany comes off very badly from the comparison. The environmental movement was right to find the book a severe embarrassment. But since the book was not conducting scientific research, what business is it of a panel concerned with scientific dishonesty?
One might expect to find the answer to this question in the arguments and data supporting the ruling-but there aren't any. The material assembled by the panel consists almost entirely of a synopsis of four articles published by Scientific American last year. (We criticised those articles and the editorial that ran with them in our issue of February 2nd 2002.) The panel seems to regard these pieces as disinterested science, rather than counter-advocacy from committed environmentalists. Incredibly, the complaints of these self-interested parties are blandly accepted at face value. Mr Lomborg's line-by-line replies to the criticisms are not reported. On its own behalf, the panel offers not one instance of inaccuracy or distortion in Mr Lomborg's book: not its job, it says. On this basis it finds Mr Lomborg guilty of dishonesty.
The panel's ruling-objectively speaking-is incompetent and shameful.
Rating: 3
Summary: There is nothing to be skeptical about
Comment: This book shows concern for the earth's environment, but at the same time refutes catastrophic ecological events and processes. It's clear that both sides (environmentalists vs. everyone else) have their own agendas, which is why they argue their viewpoints as they do. So many biases based on innumerable experiences, ideologies, faiths, etc. come into play when discussing environmental issues that any debate is futile unless certain standards are set. In my view, this book is used best for studying the data provided, and making a conclusion based on your own educated reasoning - of course not until you have read the same data as interpreted by true blue 'environmentalists'. Data can be manipulated in countless ways to accommodate many viewpoints, so instead of looking at numbers in order to prove their point, I would say it's time to use some common sense, and perhaps some plain old human emotion to determine our environmental policy stances. The book itself is well written, interesting, and informative, but I wouldn't use it as a sole basis for determining an environmental viewpoint.
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Title: Global Warming and Other Eco Myths: How the Environmental Movement Uses False Science to Scare Us to Death by Ronald Bailey, Competitive Enterprise Institute ISBN: 0761536604 Publisher: Prima Lifestyles Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists by Joel Best ISBN: 0520219783 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 07 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Satanic Gases by Patrick J. Michaels, Robert C. Balling ISBN: 1882577922 Publisher: Cato Institute Pub. Date: 15 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Junk Science Judo: Self-Defense Against Health Scares & Scams by Steven Milloy ISBN: 1930865120 Publisher: Cato Institute Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Global Warming in a Politically Correct Climate: How Truth Became Controversial by M. Mihkel Mathiesen ISBN: 0595140661 Publisher: Writers Club Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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