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Bjørn Lomborg

The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World Hardcover – 30 Aug. 2001

by Bjørn Lomborg (Author)

4.5 345 ratings

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The Skeptical Environmentalist challenges widely held beliefs that the environmental situation is getting worse and worse. The author, himself a former member of Greenpeace, is critical of the way in which many environmental organisations make selective and misleading use of the scientific evidence. Using the best available statistical information from internationally recognised research institutes, Bjørn Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental problems that feature prominently in headline news across the world. 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. Concluding that there are more reasons for optimism than pessimism, Bjørn Lomborg stresses the need for clear-headed prioritisation of resources to tackle real, not imagined problems. The Skeptical Environmentalist offers readers a non-partisan stocktaking exercise that serves as a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favoured by campaign groups and the media.

ISBN-10

0521804477
ISBN-13

978-0521804479
Publisher

Cambridge University Press
Publication date

30 Aug. 2001
Language

English
Dimensions

17.15 x 3.81 x 24.77 cm
Print length

540 pages
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Review

'This is one of the most valuable books on public policy - not merely on environmental policy - to have been written for the intelligent reader in the past ten years … The Skeptical Environmentalist is a triumph.' The Economist

'… a superbly documented and readable book.' Wall Street Journal

'The Skeptical Environmentalist should be read by every environmentalist, so that the appalling errors of fact the environmental movement has made in the past are not repeated. A brilliant and powerful book.' Matt Ridley, author of Genome

'The Skeptical Environmentalist is perhaps the most important book about the environment since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) awakened the world to the dangers of unrestrained economic growth.' Jason Cowley, New Statesman

'Bjorn Lomborg is an outstanding representative of the 'new breed' of political scientists - mathematically-skilled and computer-adept. In this book he shows himself also to be a hard-headed, empirically-oriented analyst. Surveying a vast amount of data and taking account of a wide range of more and less informed opinion about environmental threats facing the planet, he comes to a balanced assessment of which ones are real and which over-hyped. In vigorous informal style, he indicates what needs to be done to address the real environmental hazards - and what needs not to be done about those turning out to be pseudo-problems.' Jack Hirshleifer, University of California, Los Angeles

'A new book is about to overturn our most basic assumptions about the world's environment. Far from going to hell in a handcart, it is improving by almost all measures. Those things not getting better are getting worse at a slower rate.' Anthony Browne, Observer

'Lomborg's challenge will have to be met … he has given an important challenge to the scientific establishment that is not only good for science, but damned necessary to it.' Fortean Times

'When Lomborg concludes that '… the loss of the world's rainforests, of fertile agricultural land, the ozone layer and of the climate balance are terrible …' I agree. But we also need debate, and this book provides us with that in generous amounts. If you, like I do, belong to the people who dare to think the world is making some progress, but always with mistakes to be corrected, this book makes important reading.' Lars Kristoferson, Secretary General, WWF Sweden

'Lomborg's book has drawn considerable attention. Although it may cause problems for the more militant and political environmentalists, it should be welcomed by anyone genuinely concerned about the environment. … Lomborg's book sheds needed light on the real state of the world. I recommend it to anyone interested in our global environment … The Skeptical Environmentalist is the most valuable book available in many years on public policy in general, not only environmental policy in particular. It should be required reading for all legislators, government bureaucrats and corporate executives who preside over the ever-increasing array of environmental regulations and politics. John P. Bluemle, Geotimes

'Whatever your standpoint, The Skeptical Environmentalist will make indispensable reading.' Mail on Sunday

'A brilliant book … All in all, this is a must-have/must read book. Don't take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.' Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy

'… his book is the Christmas present for a rational future.' The Chemical Engineer

'… it should be welcomed by anyone genuinely concerned about the environment.' Environmental Geology

'The Skeptical Environmentalist marks a critical environmental moment … We can forget those dreary old idols: Paul Ehrlich, Lester Brown with his Worldwatch Institute, Greenpeace and all the others. They have been exiled into the darkness. Eco-optimism can begin to rise over the Earth. After Lomborg, the environmental movement will begin to wither.' National Post

'Bjorn Lomborg's book is hugely beneficial for a debate that has been one-sided.' The Financial Times

Book Description

A controversial, wide ranging and clearly documented survey of the state of the global environment.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press (30 Aug. 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 540 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521804477
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521804479
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 17.15 x 3.81 x 24.77 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,829,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,022 in International Economic Development
- 1,279 in Econometrics
- 2,346 in Mathematics References

Customer reviews:
4.5 345 ratings

About the author

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Bjørn Lomborg

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Dr. Bjorn Lomborg is an academic and the author of the best-selling "The Skeptical Environmentalist" and "Cool It". He challenges mainstream concerns about development and the environment and points out that we need to focus our limited resources and attention on the smartest solutions first. He is a visiting professor at Copenhagen Business School, and president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center which brings together top economists, including seven Nobel Laureates, to set data-driven priorities for the world.

Follow him on twitter: bjornlomborg

Lomborg is a frequent commentator in print and broadcast media, for outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, CNN, FOX, and the BBC. His monthly column is published in 19 languages, in 30+ newspapers with more than 30 million readers globally.

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Global warming sceptic

The Truth is out there!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2023

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How refreshing to find an unbiased, properly researched book on the environment and "global warming". Bjorn Lomborg and his team of researchers expose the propaganda expounded by apocryphal commentators, charities and those with a vested interest and concentrates instead on the global improvements in the wellbeing of the World population in recent years.

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Boglebadger

A good book, but a misnomer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 December 2012

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Lomborg's book is a fascinating read, and for the most part convincing. However I find it an odd title.

The two relevant definitions from The Free Dictionary of an environmentalist are:

2. a person who is concerned with the maintenance of ecological balance and the conservation of the environment
3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Environmental Science) a person concerned with issues that affect the environment, such as pollution

Lomborg's overwhelming concern is, however, the well-being of the human race and human happiness. Laudable as this goal is, it is not strictly speaking environmentalism. Lomborg himself admits that the well-being of other species is only considered inasmuch as it affects human endeavour and happiness - and the more human life, the better.

That said, the book is full of fascinating arguments and data and his approach - based on statistical evidence and prioritisation - is one I fundamentally agree with. There is no point in pouring all your resources into attempting to solve something that isn't a problem and ignoring others that are. And the argument that the lot of the human race has improved, and is improving, is quite convincing and in keeping with most people's person experience. Who had it harder, your grandparents or you? Most would agree that health, food, salaries, working conditions and other quality-of-life indicators have all improved over their family's generations.

The chapter on global warming was the one that most failed to convince me. Throughout most of the book, Lomborg quotes the UN, WHO etc. whose conclusions back up his views. But here, Lomborg shows himself at odds with the IPCC, and uses a multitude of arguments as to why their estimates must overshoot the mark. Undoubtedly his arguments are valid ones. But I feel he consistently chooses to only show us uncertainties that may reduce the estimate rather than those that may cause it to be underestimated. In many cases, it almost goes like "we don't know what clouds do, so they must make warming smaller". He may be right, but his bias shows.

Finally, Lomborg is a statistician and an economist. He has a unwavering faith in the good of a free-market economy that I don't quite share. If something isn't happening in a free market, then it cannot (by his definition) be worthwhile. I also feel there's some double-counting of costs going on in places - such-and-such a change will cost this many billions of dollars *and* all these bad things will happen; but it seems more likely that the monetary cost is the fraction of GDP that must be invested to make sure the latter things *do not* occur.

The great thing about this book though is it makes you think and question. Don't take all the arguments given by the environmental movement, or by Lomborg, at face value. Avoid gut reactions and consider what is the most effective way to preserve and protect the environment - *and* improve the human lot.

5 people found this helpful

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Allen Richard George

What we think we know vs. The facts

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 February 2023

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How could anyone think that what we see on the news and read in the press is the whole truth? I became convinced that I did not have anywhere near a complete environmental picture and ended up at this book. Whilst my edition is a 2004 update. The picture, I am sure, is not much changed in 2023. This book offers a very wide selection of data (with 80 pages of sources notes) that show that what we think we know (did I say 'fed' by the media, because bad news sells?) and the truth are two very different things. No-one is saying that humans are not changing, and in many cases damaging the Earth, but this book offers much needed context.

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C. C. Williams

World shaking and life changing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2003

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There are some books that you read, 'The Selfish Gene', for example, that completely change the way that you see yourself and the world around you and this is one of those. This is a thoughtful, carefully argued, exhaustively researched and completely devastating refutation of what might be seen as the standard environmental model. Many have criticized that this book merely confirms its readers' prejudices. Possibly this is true - I was certainly sceptical myself of certain elements of received wisdom. For example, I simply could not believe that a planet, three fifths of which is covered by water more than a mile deep, was actually running short on water. Correspondingly if you hold that mankind is the greatest natural disaster that has ever befallen the planet then this book will not convince you that things are really OK.
He points out things which the reader should already know to be true. I know that the environment of the UK has visibly improved during my lifetime - I grew up in the 1970s - and Lomborg points out that this is true elsewhere. He points out that environmental legislation can only follow prosperity and that the greatest scandal in the world is not deforestation but lack of drinking water and adequate sanitation so that many people in the developing world are poisoned by their own filth.
So far so obvious. However, he gets much more subversive. Lomborg's strength is not that he can conduct primary research - he's not an oceanographer or meteorologist - but that he can analyse other people's data and see the patterns lying underneath. From his analysis, he shows that we are not living through a mass extinction unparalleled since the end of the cretaceous, that we are not running out of natural resources and neither are we likely to, that the world is not overpopulated, that the welfare of almost all people (and not just those in the developed countries) has improved greatly during the last century and will continue to do so, that deforestation is largely illusory, etc. Most importantly, he debunks a lot of myths about global warming and argues - persuasively I believe - that the Kyoto agreement is no more than an expensive and pointless act of public penance for our imagined sins.
His central message is not that controversial and it is this: the world is not perfect and many things can be improved but it is not as bad as many people would have you believe. This needs to be borne in mind by our legislators when they consider implementing policies which will have a negative impact not just on our prosperity but on the prosperity of developing nations as well.

35 people found this helpful

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The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World Hardcover – 30 Aug. 2001

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