|  | Author: Bjorn Lomborg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
List Price: $29.99
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Rating:  339 reviews
Sales Rank: 39635
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
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
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: This book has been read, but remains in good and clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact, including dust cover, if applicable. The spine may show signs of wear, and pages may include limited notes and handwriting. Thanks for your order from Goodwill of Greater Washington. Your purchase will help Goodwill provide job training and employment services to people with disadvantages and disabilities. You just made a difference in someone's life today. Your order will be processed within 1 business day of receipt.
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Showing reviews 51-55 of 339
 Lomborg and the environment August 22, 2005
Peter S. Dyett (Perth, Australia)
12 out of 19 found this review helpful
An articulate and well written expose on the 'real state if the world'. Lomborg provides a compelling and accessable study into the environment and the many statements that are made about it on a day-to-day basis. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in a scientific and realistic interpretation of what is actually happening out there.
 A well-marketed hoax August 15, 2005
Federico Zenith (Magdeburg, Germany)
41 out of 72 found this review helpful
Lomborg's book and following events have managed to paint, in the eyes of the most naïve, the image of an environmentalist community that lobbies their biased theories for a mixture of fanatism, research funding, and plain stupidity. The events in which the Danish Council for Scientific Dishonesty first found Lomborg guilty and then had to acquit him after political pressures from the government (that later supported Lomborg, might be mentioned) helped to paint the image of a modern-day Galileo.
However, facts point in another direction. First, Lomborg's qualifications are irrelevant to his book's subject: he is no climatologist, no statistician (he only taught a course in statistics), but a political scientist. He published to date only one publication in a peer-reviewed journal, on game theory. Presenting one's new theories to the press or in book form is one of the most certain signs of scientific nonsense, just like what happened for cold fusion.
But let's admit we do have a modern day Galileo, who after all had no degree in Optics himself. Reading his book proves convincing to many, and indeed much of the reasoning seems correct-until one checks the sources. Most readers never check the references, possibly because it is tedious, and/or they have no access to a university library. Even for those who could and would do it, Lomborg has been quite subtle at misquoting some authors, and one wonders how such subtlety could be achieved by mere naïveté and ignorance.
For the example of the air quality of London, Lomborg took data from a theoretical study of pollution in London in the past 500 years (published in peer-review literature), and multiplied the data plot almost tenfold, writing in a note that "the scale had been adjusted". However, the plots do look similar, and an unattentive controller could overlook the gross difference in scale. This way, the reader is led to believe that air quality in London in 1600 was as bad, if not worse, than during the industrial revolution.
Lomborg manages to claim that forest area is growing worldwide. To demonstrate this, he points to data from UN agency FAO. Since the end of WW2, FAO kept records of forest area in various countries, but reliability of such estimates in a time when satellites did not exist and when the definition of "forest" might change from country to country was scarce. In Lomborg's sources, therefore, it appears that all forests in Papua-New Guinea sprung out of nowhere in 1961, and Mongolia's mountain forests in 1959. It is interesting to note that FAO had published a revised edition of their estimates before the English edition of the Skeptical Environmentalist, in which a clear trend to reduction is visible; and of course these data did not make it into Lomborg's book.
[...]
In brief, I think this book is full of false allegations that are "proven" through systematic and subtle deception. Lomborg has proven himself skilled in twisting references to lead to the conclusions of his own agenda. Whereas he accuses climatologists of producing alarmistic research in search of funding, he has made quite a career with his book, that probably proved to be an excellent investment for him.
I give two stars to this book for one reason: it taught me how it is important to check the sources, and thoroughly so. It has also taught me how easy it can be to deceive people on matters they are not competent enough to judge for themselves.
As I final note, I would ask the reader NOT to believe me. Please, check for yourself. Look at some of Fog's site allegations, print one of errors reported, go to a well-furnished library and do verify them for yourself.
 A Much-Appreciated Examination of the Actual Evidence August 2, 2005
Nicholas Jarvis (Salt Lake City, UT USA)
11 out of 21 found this review helpful
Most of us just "know" that the planet is in bad shape. You "know" that you should feel guilty about all of the species that will die today because of the soda can you didn't recycle. You "know" that acid rain is killing puppies and forests because you took the long way home from work. You "know" that worldwide population will outstrip the global food supply and the world will end in a gloomy Malthusian armageddon.
But is this really the state of the world?
Environmental alarmism has been beaten into our collective conscience so thoroughly that such claims are usually accepted without asking for supporting evidence. "The Skeptical Environmentalist" is an examination of the available evidence on the state of humanity and the planet we live on. Coming to conclusions about our situation that are based on evidence makes for a refreshing change from the constant indoctrination of the passionate cries of environmental alarmists.
I appreciate Mr. Lomborg's use of responsible statistical analysis in the examination of the available evidence on environmental subjects. This kind of approach will allow us to make good judgments about our allocation of resources for solving the world's problems, and reflects the right kind of level-headed attitude so often missing in the environmental movement.
I recommend this read as a healthy antidote to an increasingly alarmist attitude towards ecology. This is not a piece of right-wing, anti-environment propaganda, but rather an analysis of our situation and our future based on the responsible application of scientific and statistical principles.
 invaluable but biased on few key points July 29, 2005
Ganesh Ruskin
5 out of 16 found this review helpful
firstly, this book covers some things in a far more realistic/honest way then do certain environmental organisations. secondly, although i have not found any evidence showing that mr lomberg has financial backers in industry, some of the chapters are so biassed that it is hard to imagine that he does not have some kind of corporate agenda.
basically, by ignoring the overwelming scientific consensis on the existence of the 'peak oil' phenomenon, the majority of his conclusion is wrong. This, combined with the choice of an unscientific climate change model invalidate a great deal of the remainder of the book, discounting, for instance is all well and good if the economy can be assumed to continue growing indefinately, but if the price of oil remains at $60 a barrel and continues to grow, as it will, dicounting becomes pretty much pointless.
Anyway, despite this book is far better than any other environmental book i have read, just be sure that you type the name 'Bjorg Lonberg' into a search engine and chech out some of the sites that come up. it turns out that through selective research, some of which is downright biassed, has bjorg came to some of his more shocking conclusions, like there being MORE forests in the world now then before the 60's and some other little gems.
if you want the full picture, read this, then criticise it and you will be there.
(...) if you are after the real issue in our life times.
Ganesh
Thoughtful analysis. July 13, 2005
George D. Klein, author, Dissensions
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
This is an extremely critical book on a range of environmental topics. The approach is to examine the statistical basis of many assertions and observations regarding environmental issues, and focuses on long-term trends. The outcome of this analysis is that indeed environmental problems and concerns have been remediated, and the future looks very good.
The book's findings challenges the prevailing paradigms of European bureacrats and American environmentalists and shows that the sky isn't falling, nor is it necessary to panic from short term observations. The key lesson is to verify before asserting and hyping a problem, to look at long-term trends and to use rigorous and quantitative methods to evaluate the results.
That doesn't mean there aren't problems, but the good news is they can be addressed and solved, and most have been solved.
I had to downgrade the rating because of the awkward writing style of the author. Frankly speaking, I fault the editors at Cambridge Univesity Press for (1) failing to properly edit the wordy text and rambling writing style, and (2)failing to make many of the diagrams self-contained. At one time, I taught for nearly 24 years at the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign, and if Lomborg's mansucript was turned in to me for a PhD (or Master's) dissertation, I would have required a massive rewrite before recommending acceptance and awarding the degree.
Showing reviews 51-55 of 339
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