Lomborg op-ed: The Problem of Priorities

Proposed cutbacks to nearly all nonmilitary spending in the Trump administration’s budget proposal have generated strong opposition from a range of groups. Cuts to teacher training and education grants agitate teacher unions; decreases to agricultural subsidies are criticized by congressmen representing farmers; disability advocates decry plans to tighten insurance criteria.

One proposed cut does not have a powerful U.S. advocacy group fighting against it — yet the money is one of the best ways of helping improve the lot of humanity.

Energy prices are soaring, and it’s likely a sign of things to come. The rise can be blamed on a variety of things, including the demand rebound after the lockdowns ended, a drop in renewable electricity output from a lack of wind in Europe during most of 2021, and increasingly costly climate policies. But while the pandemic will end and the wind will blow again, climate policies to achieve “net zero” emissions will keep hiking prices.

Patt Morrison for May 5, 2011

Has Bjorn Lomborg—the poster child of environmental skeptics—changed his climate?

Bjorn Lomborg, Danish environmental academic, infuriated scientists around the world when he published The Skeptical Environmentalist in 2001. The book claimed that overpopulation, destruction of resources, and global warming are not imminent problems. It would be a waste of time, Lomborg wrote, and even detrimental, if countries focused on environmental problems like global warming instead of on bigger problems such as worldwide poverty and disease. (...)