What is the difference between the American and the British publications of the Cool it?
The two books' message is identical, but the UK version is an extended version, with more numbers, texts and 59 graphs.
Did Lomborg always want to get involved in the environmental debate?
No. It all started in 1997, when Bjorn Lomborg read a Wired Magazine interview with economist Julian Simon claiming that the environment - contrary to common understanding - was getting better, not worse. Lomborg thought this had to be incorrect ("right wing, American propaganda"). Looking for new ways to get his students involved, in the fall of 1997 he organized a study group with some of his top students to prove Simon wrong. Much to everyone's surprise, much (though definitely not everything) of what Simon said was right.
Does Lomborg have a rebuttal of Fog's arguments in English?
Download Lomborg's short version of the Danish reply: Reply to Skeptical Questions, Sustainable Answers from 2002.
Hasn't Kaare Fog produced a copious list of how wrong Lomborg is?
It is true that Fog has been very productive in his claims (http://www.lomborg-errors.dk/), and has been so since the publication of Lomborg's book in 1998 in Danish. However, Lomborg has answered Fog many times in publications, most clearly when Fog edited a book with arguments against Lomborg in 1999.
Does he believe we should do anything about global warming?
Yes. As Bjorn Lomborg argues in 'Cool It', we should focus on the smartest solutions to the problems that the world faces, whether we're dealing with climate change, communicable diseases, malnutrition, agricultural subsidies, or anything else. Lomborg finds that the smartest way to tackle global warming is to invest heavily in R&D in non-carbon emitting technologies, which will enable everyone to switch over to cheaper-than-fossil-fuel technologies sooner and thus dramatically reduce the 21st century emissions.
But he used to deny it, didn't he?
No. In both his first Danish book in 1998 and the English version of The Skeptical Environmentalist in 2001, Bjorn Lomborg stressed that man-made global warming exists. The introduction to the section on climate change in The Skeptical Environmentalist clearly states, "This chapter accepts the reality of man-made global warming" (p259).
Does Lomborg deny man-made global warming exists?
No. In Cool It he writes: "global warming is real and man-made. It will have a serious impact on humans and the environment toward the end of this century" (p8).
Wasn't Bjorn Lomborg proved scientifically dishonest?
No. Using a critique written by Lomborg's critics in the Scientific American (January 2002), the Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty (DCSD) found that The Skeptical Environmentalist was objectively scientifically dishonest on January 7 2003. However, on December 17 2003, the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation completely rescinded this finding. It released a 70-page evaluation criticizing at least 13 points in the DCSD report, three of which individually would have led to it being rescinded.
A response to Howard Friel’s 'The Lomborg Deception'
Bjorn Lomborg has written a detailed response debunking Howard Friel’s claims in ‘The Lomborg Deception.” You can read the 27 pages response here.