The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World |  | Author: Bjorn Lomborg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
List Price: $29.99
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Rating:  333 reviews
Sales Rank: 32307
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 540
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 10.2 x 6.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0521010683
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.7
EAN: 9780521010689
ASIN: 0521010683
Publication Date: September 10, 2001
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Product Description
Bjørn Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace, challenges widely held beliefs that the world environmental situation is getting worse and worse in his new book, The Skeptical Environmentalist. Using statistical information from internationally recognized research institutes, Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental issues that feature prominently in headline news around the world, including pollution, biodiversity, fear of chemicals, and the greenhouse effect, and documents that the world has actually improved. He supports his arguments with over 2500 footnotes, allowing readers to check his sources. Lomborg criticizes the way many environmental organizations make selective and misleading use of scientific evidence and argues that we are making decisions about the use of our limited resources based on inaccurate or incomplete information. Concluding that there are more reasons for optimism than pessimism, he stresses the need for clear-headed prioritization of resources to tackle real, not imagined, problems. The Skeptical Environmentalist offers readers a non-partisan evaluation that serves as a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favored by campaign groups and the media. Bjørn Lomborg is an associate professor of statistics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus. When he started to investigate the statistics behind the current gloomy view of the environment, he was genuinely surprised. He published four lengthy articles in the leading Danish newspaper, including statistics documenting an ever-improving world, and unleashed the biggest post-war debate with more than 400 articles in all the major papers. Since then, Lomborg has been a frequent participant in the European debate on environmentalism on television, radio, and in newspapers.
Book Description
Challenges widely held beliefs that the environmental situation is getting worse and worse. Making use of the best available statistical information, Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental problems that feature prominently in global headline news. His arguments are presented in non-technical, accessible language and are carefully backed up by over 2500 footnotes allowing readers to check sources for themselves. The Skeptical Environmentalist offers readers a non-partisan stocktaking exercises that serves as a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favored by campaign groups and the media.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 333
 Before global warming was cool May 20, 2009
Erik Eisel (Huntington Beach, CA)
When picking up this book for the first time, I couldn't help notice the date of its publication: September 10, 2001. Lomborg's book was not only pre-911, but cool before global warming was cool. In the pre-911 world in which this book was written and in which it tried to dominate the climate change debate, The Skeptical Environmentalist serves as a bookend to a debate, which had begun 30 years earlier with Paul Ehrlich's writings. Instead of creating hypothetical scenarios, and then manipulating data to support the hypotheses, Lomborg suggests that he is able to "test" the viability of these scenarios with "statistics."
While "statistics" can be just another rhetorical tool, the sheer mass of data overwhelms any rhetorical maneuvers that the author can possibly employ. The sheer mass of data allows the reader to make up his own mind.
While Lomborg's own belief in the reality of global warming can also be questioned, Lomborg at least displays his honesty that we "just don't know" what the result of an increase in greenhouse gases will cause. Increased CO2 in the atmosphere could just as well cool the earth's surface as warm it up.
Finally, Lomborg's attention to topics, such as food scarcity or chemical risks, helps us to understand environment issues beyond just those caused by dangerous greenhouse gases.
A must read for every thinking person April 19, 2009
Norman Rohr (Zuerich)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A must read for every person still interested in rational and critical thinking.
Based on official statistics by the United Nations and government agencies, the author presents a holistic view of the state of the world. Whilst he does not neglect to highlight where the is still room for improvement, he makes it clear that we are living in a world as good as it ever existed.
Lomborg, statistician by training started of as a convinced Greenpeace member who wanted to rebut the claims of a "conservative" economist claiming that environmental associations try to paint too bleak a picture of our present life. In the process of his investigations, Lomborg transformed into one of the most well-known political scientists who persistently argues to adopt a more balanced view of the main problems faced by our society.
 Any 5* or 1* review is over-emotional and closed-minded January 17, 2009
J. English
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
It is apparent that many of these reviews are closed-minded and over-emotional. This book is clearly not 5 stars because:
1. It is clear from the very beginning of the book that Bjorn had an agenda to conclude that the environment is getting better. Agenda leads to bias, which leads to cherry-picking statistics, which leads to skewed conclusions. Even bad results were framed as good. Pollution and deforestation in developing countries ok because developed countries did that 50 years ago? The decimation of fish stocks is ok because they only supply 1% of calorie needs? Falling water tables and water shortages are ok because people could just buy their food somewhere else? (since crops are the primary source of water consumption)
2. He claims that we have an essentially infinite supply of resources which can support an infinite human population, simply because production of key minerals and energy has continued to increase. Have you ever heard the phrase "past performance is no guarantee of future performance?" That's exactly what has happened here. His predictions of reduced food, copper, gold, oil, coal etc prices have all turned out to be dramatically incorrect. Most noteworthy is his prediction that oil prices of $27/barrel in 1999 were artificially high and $20/barrel is more reasonable. $150/barrel in 2008 anyone??
3. His conclusion that water shortages can be resolved through economic means is an oversimplification and misses the point. The point is, from a resource drawdown perspective, water supply will be a HUGE issue this century.
4. This book is supposed to be about the environment, yet in every case, he "measures" the environment in human terms. Biodiversity loss is ok because it allows human economies to grow? Marine ecosystem collapse is ok because they only supply 1% of calorie needs?
On the other hand, this book is clearly not 1 star because:
1. He backs up many of his conclusions with loads and loads of good data. This is rare when it comes to opinions of the environment which tend to be gut reactions not based on the facts - on both sides.
2. He targets some key aspects of the "litany" which have turned out to be exaggerations, and very specifically and assertively proves them false. A few examples are a)global deforestation has leveled off, not increased, b)pollution in developed countries has decreased, not increased c)biodiversity loss is only 0.7% over the next 50 years, not 15%, c)waste and landfills are not a concern as the entire world's waste over the next 100 years could be stored in an area smaller than one county in Oklahoma.
In summary, this is a decent book which more accurately quantifies the state of the environment than most people understand. As an environmentally conscious person, this book has really helped me realize the exaggerations of many of the environmental organizations. Although, ironically, the environmental organizations have played a big part in improving the state of the environment over the past 100 years, and of course Bjorn does not credit them. Bjorn's overall conclusion that "things are getting better" should be read as "things have been getting better for humans, while the environment is getting worse, albeit more slowly than many of the environmental organizations lead us to believe."
The other side to the story January 13, 2009
John Chatfield (Portland, OR)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is not a book that denies global warming exists. What this book does is tell how good and bad things are, strictly based on statistics. Lomberg has really put to rest some of the "scary" aspects of global warming in this book.
One of the most important books ever written on the environment. December 25, 2008
W. H. Cantrell (Marshall Islands)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Probably the most important book ever to be written on the environment, this is a tour de force, a brilliant work, and a masterpiece of careful analysis. The author is a former member of Greenpeace who originally intended to prove the environment was getting worse over time. Much to his surprise, and somewhat reluctantly at first, he discovered just the opposite. Lomborg exposes and criticizes the ways in which many environmental organizations make biased and misleading use of the scientific evidence to suit their own political agendas. He sets the record straight by tracking down and exposing the fabricated claims made by often quoted environmental groups. He also backs his own conclusions with solid scientific evidence, including extensive references.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 333
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