Op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg Thursday, July 16, 2009 Discussions about global warming are marked by an increasing desire to stamp out “impure” thinking, to the point of questioning the value of democratic debate. But shutting down discussion simply means the disappearance of reason from public policy. In March, Al Gore’s science adviser and prominent climate researcher, Jim Hansen, proclaimed that when it comes to dealing with global warming, the “democratic process isn’t working.” Although science has demonstrated that carbon-dioxide from fossil fuels is heating...

Een koele kijk op het klimaat

The plan we are most likely to adopt to address climate change will cost far too much and do next to nothing. The fight over the science of warming is over, yes. But the debate over the solution to global warming hasn't even begun.

Bjørn Lomborg er drevet af lysten til at formidle en udfordrende ide. Og så vil han da også gerne have lækkert hår. Men han tager ikke modstand personligt. Marie Tetzlaff fulgte efter ham, da han besøgte Politikens læsere på Vallekilde Højskole.

Przesadzając straszymy dzieci – wierzą one, że nie mają przyszłości i że nastąpi koniec świata. Stałe pokazywanie w popularnych mediach przerażających historii o globalnym ociepleniu straszy niepotrzebnie. Co gorsza, przeraża nasze dzieci. Słynne jest odmalowanie podniesienia poziomu morza (o sześć metrów) przez Ala Gore’a, niemal całkowicie zalewające Florydę, Nowy Jork, Holandię, Bangladesz i Szanghaj, mimo że ONZ stwierdza, iż nic takiego się nie zdarzy i szacuje, że poziom wód podniesie się, ale dwudziestokrotnie mniej. Skonfrontowani z tymi przesadzonymi informacjami...

We are frightening children with exaggerations – they believe they don't have a future and that the world is going to end The continuous presentation of scary stories about global warming in the popular media makes us unnecessarily frightened. Even worse, it terrifies our kids. Al Gore famously depicted how a sea-level rise of 20ft (six metres) would almost completely flood Florida, New York, Holland, Bangladesh, and Shanghai, even though the United Nations says that such a thing will not even happen, estimating that sea levels will rise 20 times less than that. When confronted with...

Some business leaders are cozying up with politicians and scientists to demand swift, drastic action on global warming. This is a new twist on a very old practice: companies using public policy to line their own pockets. The tight relationship between the groups echoes the relationship among weapons makers, researchers and the U.S. military during the Cold War. President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned about the might of the "military-industrial complex," cautioning that "the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." He worried that...

DIA DEL MEDIO AMBIENTE Bjørn Lomborg, 'El ecologista escéptico' He aquí una preocupante e impresionante ventana a un mundo de pobreza real en demasiados lugares del planeta. El pequeño, semidesnudo, queda eclipsado por esa montaña de rezumante basura. Los marabús están amenazados, pero para mí, lo importante de esta historia es cómo ayudar al niño. (...)

Global Warming Is Manageable -- if We're Smart THE NEXT TREATY TO CURB GLOBAL WARMING WILL BE negotiated this December in Copenhagen, Bjorn Lomborg's home city. Called by The Guardian (U.K.) "one of the 50 people who could save the planet," Lomborg, a statistician, is the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist (2001) and Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming" (2007). He also maintains a Website on environmental issues at www.lomborg.com. Contrary to widely held belief, Lomborg isn't at all skeptical of the fact that global warming...

WE are often told that tackling global warming should be the defining task of our age — that we must cut emissions immediately and drastically. But people are not buying the idea that, unless we act, the planet is doomed. Several recent polls have revealed Americans’ growing skepticism. Solving global warming has become their lowest policy priority, according to a new Pew survey. (...)