Rating: 
Summary: The methods of denial are endless
Review: Here is the real Litany that Lomborg endorses, the sacred Litany that most of us in the privileged world live by:
1. Humans are the only beings that really matter on this earth. 2. Western civilization is the model for the rest of the world; after all, we are the pinnacle of evolution. 3. Resources are infinite and economic growth is infinite. 4. Technology will save us. Lomborg is blinded by the same cultural ideology that got us in this mess in the first place. The Skeptical Environmentalist is the same old rhetoric (Litany) cloaked in scholarship and statistics. He wants us to believe The System would work just fine if the pesky Chicken Little environmentalists would just stop frightening people with their lies and exaggerations. Don't waste your money unless you want to hear a Litany of cop outs that are made to justify our destructive behavior.
Rating: 
Summary: Half of the truth
Review: In "The Skeptical Environmentalist-Measuring the Real State of the World," Lomborg makes a valiant attempt to be objective. He does a good job of exposing more easily debunked myths such the one that 40,000 species go extinct every year. He falls short however when addressing more complex issues. His major shortcoming in this regard is that he is a statistician, not a scientist with the expertise to explore extremely complex scientific issues that too often seem paradoxical to all but the specialists who spend years studying them. In his chapter on global warming, Lomborg details his argument that the phenomenon is real, but hardly the threat that most climatologists claim it is. This is a little like a dentist explaining that a rare new type of cancer is not as bad as oncologists say it is.
Although, as a professor of statistics, Lomborg does a commendable job of documenting his figures, the figures don't always tell the whole story. One of the more glaring examples is his argument that the world has plenty of water. In his chapter on water, Lomborg goes to great lengths to show that there is enough surface water to support human life on earth, but only superficially delves into the subject of ground water, and barely mentions the fact that aquifers are sinking all over the world from overpumping. He completely ignores the subject of how much water is required to
support freshwater aquatic life (fish, etc.) or any of the natural systems that depend on fresh water to exist. He seems to be unaware of "subsidence"- a phenomenon that results from too much extraction of groundwater. Subsidence is causing a number of areas of the world to sink and the substrata to harden so that it cannot reabsorb as much water. Lomborg seems equally oblivious of salinization of coastal river deltas when their flow levels decrease, or of any other water problem not directly demonstrable by numbers to affect humans.
A major weakness of this book is that statistics can't support every argument. More abstract, but vital, aspects of the state of the world, such as beauty, justice, the human spirit and the value of animals are conveniently sidestepped. Lomborg often uses one criterion-- the length of human lives / how many deaths result from x, y or z--as the paramount measurement of our success or failure.
A magician tricks our senses by his skill at hiding vital parts of unfolding events. Similarly, when Lomborg fails to reveal vital parts of environmental issues, he presents a deceptively convincing case to the uninformed. Because it contains so much information and is so thoroughly referenced, "The Skeptical Environmentalist" should be read by anyone seeking the truth about environmental issues, but it should be balanced by such books as Paul and Anne Ehrlich's "Betrayal of Science and Reason."
The central point of Lomborg's book is very valid-that we need to make rationally prioritize our problems based upon facts instead of upon myths. But his incomplete approach leaves too many "myths" still in question.
Rating:
Summary: Denial...a classic sign of guilt
Review: This guy bjorn and anyone who gives his "work" any merit is in a severe state of denial. Our environmental problems, as a planet, are too numerous to count, and will get progressively worse as long as there is not a Drastic change in collective consciousness, and subsequently, in collective actions taken by our species. And here this guy is claiming that none of the impending catastrophes we face as a species and an earth are to be worried about. Maybe he's right. Just nestle in with your beer and satellite dish and online shopping and don't think about how much of your world is smothered under concrete and asphalt. DONT EVEN get me started on specifics! just look and listen around you, i think we all can see at least a few things wrong with what used to be our habitat. i mean the indians' habitat. i mean the buffalos' habitat. oh yeah, and we ought to call them native americans, huh. yes, that feels quite a bit less racist. very good.
Rating: 
Summary: REQUIRED READING, Meticulously Researched, Inspiring!
Review: "The Skeptical Environmentalist" presents a plethora of arguments (nearly 3,000 footnotes and a 70 page bibliography) to confirm what saner environmentalists have always suspected: the environment and life on earth are improving! Bjorn Lomborg's critics would do well to begin reading his book. His critics sadly will look to his title and simply assume that because he is a professor of *statistics* that he could never make an intelligent argument on the environment. Yet, Lomborg's analysis is based on statistical evidence taken around from the world and hundreds of different sources. One suspects that even if Lomborg was the most honored environmental scientist on earth, his critics would still disparage him for no other reason than his conclusions are actually positive and not comprised of Doomsday scenarios. Even if we were to assume that Lomborg's optimism is naïve, that some of his conclusions are incorrect, or his interpretation of statistics proves wrong, his often repeated point is the same: the environment certainly needs to be cared for, and we still have much work to do, but nonetheless the state of our air, water, food production, life expectancy, income, etc. have given us some reason to be proud. Surely this should be cause for SOME celebration! Lomborg should be praised and admired at minimum for not running with the herd and instead looking at facts and reality to come to his conclusions. In this way, "The Skeptical Environmentalist" is an excellent book, and definitely worth a read (or two). If environmentalists would only take his lead and present the status of the environment fully and completely, they would gain much more credibility. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: REQUIRED READING, Meticulously Researched, Inspiring!
Review: Bjorn Lomborg's critics would do well to begin reading his book. With that said, "The Skeptical Environmentalist" presents a plethora of arguments (nearly 3,000 footnotes and a 70 page bibliography) to confirm what saner environmentalists have always suspected: the environment and life on earth is improving! Lomborg's critics will look to his title and simply assume that because he is a professor of *statistics* that he could never make an intelligent argument on the environment. Yet, Lomborg's analysis is based on statistical evidence taken around from the world and hundreds of different sources. One suspects that even if Lomborg was the most honored environmental scientist on earth, his critics would still disparage him for no other reason than his conclusions are actually positive and not comprised of Doomsday scenarios. Let us assume for a moment that Lomborg's optimism is naive. Even if some of Lomborg's conclusions are incorrect, or his interpretation of statistics proves wrong, his often repeated point is the same: the environment needs to be cared for and we have much work to still do, but in various aspects, the air, water, food production, life expectancy, etc. have improved! Surely this be cause for SOME celebration! Lomborg should be praised and admired at minimum for not running with the herd and instead looking at facts and reality to come to his conclusions. In this way, "The Skeptical Environmentalist" is an excellent book, well researched, and even if Lomborg is incorrect in some of his conclusions, he book is definitely worth a read (or two). If environmentalists would only take his lead and present the status of the environment fully and completely, they would gain much credibility. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Selective science
Review: Earlier this year, Lomborg was discredited by his academic peers for his selective and incomplete science. He is a statistician, not a scientist, and certainly not an environmental scientist. Read this book only as an example of how clever statistical methods can be used to create a profitable product for a niche market.
Rating:
Summary: Very Inspiring and Assuring
Review: The subtitle is "Measuring the Real State of the World" and this is what this statistician/author did. The author states that there are only a few sources accepted for worldwide statistics, mainly UN, USGS or Nasa studies. Using these studies the author shows how some studies are misused, and misquoted to portend impending environmental doom.
I read this book because as one who lived through the sixties, I have not seen the environmental disasters that were predicted, come true. The world population did not outrun the food supply of the green revolution by the mid- seventies; basic foodstuffs are not even on a rising price trend. I have not seen it with our basic metals or oil for that matter. The costs of these have not kept pace with inflation. The author attempts to show where the error lies in these environmental dire predictions. One is inclined to believe this book, the original source is cited, numerous graphs are used and the historical results seem to jive with reality. Many of the past-predicted environmental scares did not pan out.
One example would be the scarcity of oil in the seventies and the beginning of a continuous oil scarcity. In reality, oil prices have not kept pace with inflation.
One main point of the book is that as a country becomes richer it puts less pressure on the environment and its population levels off. The author puts much faith in this because statistics show that the percentage of the world's population considered poor is steadily diminishing. The author's research seems to be immense, and his reasoning very well thought out. He leads you through the main points of environmental crisis's, scarcity of resources, energy, food, the rainforest, global warming, etc. This book puts many things in perspective. One wants to believe this book, because it offers a future that is not going to be one of stark choices, but reasonable choices and trade-offs. The conclusions are based on the data given and seem very logical. I recommend this book as an eye-opener. The author's explanation of what is happening environmentally, certainly bears more resemblance to reality than can be shown throughout the history of the environmentalist scares of the recent past. One can only hope the future is also as consistent.
Rating:
Summary: full of oversights and misinformation
Review: Although i found this book to be exceedingly well written, reading smoothly and drawing you in, it soon became clear how little of a scientist Lomborg was. on the surface his points seem convincing and valid, but, as somebody with a background in environmental science, it only took a moments thoughts to fill his propositions with holes. his overriding theme seems to be that increased wealth will be the answer to all of the questionable (in his mind) current environmental concerns. i'm still a little confused about how having more money will be able to raise up the Pacific islands when the sea level rises two inches in the next few decades (as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted it will)and other like claims. my primary responce to this book was fear, fear that, as one of the few readible and straightforward books out there on environmental concerns, people who have only a passing interest in such issues will be sucked in by his smooth words despite the questionable, and at times unequivicably false ('global warming will make the world greener and thus aid in abatting world huner' was a favorite of mine...)nature of his claims. i sincerely hope that some of the numerous scientists out there in the field of the environment will be able to conteract these dangerous lies soon with a similar book told from a more factual background.
Rating: 
Summary: Lomborg the patron saint of industrialists or...
Review: This book is neither wrong or right it as to be checked not by non-specialist like us but by specialists. There is problem in that. Why do economists, liberals, conservatives, industrialist, without ever listening to ecologists, enviromentalists or basically people who know climate, environment best, listen to Lomborg who is a statistician(and then make him th prophet) . That does not make him a bad scientists but it does not make him an authority by a book like this. And don't let this book be an industrialists holy book. It is not. Only thing that humanity does not need is dogmatism. But at least this book has created a consciousness(or increased it) about the decisions humanity has to make for survival of itself and living things around us.
Rating:
Summary: Liberals Like Myself -- Please Read This Wonderful Book!
Review: I especially recommend this book to liberals like myself. Lomborg, predictably, is under attack from the left, and his defenders tend to be people who enjoy reading Ann Coulter. This is grossly unfortunate because Lomborg is not a conservative, and his book is not a right-wing political screed but a measured, balanced, thoughtful appraisal of data that's available to anyone. To me, it appears that the attacks on Lomborg are because, after examining the evidence, he failed to come to the politically correct conclusion. It makes me look upon my liberal brothers and sisters in a colder light, and that makes me sad. No one should want to be a knee-jerk anything. Dare to be wrong! Examine the evidence! Listen to opposing points of view before drawing conclusions! That's the end of _my_ screed.
|
