Uncategorized
All Stories
-
Paine on the Ass
If you read yesterday’s special issue of Grist Magazine on Bjorn Lomborg’s The Skeptical Environmentalist, you know that the experts largely disagree with Lomborg’s thesis that environmental problems are just […]
-
Water, at Your Surface
A water shortage in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, has grown so severe that authorities have called in the army to distribute drinking water to the city’s residents. The […]
-
![]()
![]()
On Bjorn Lomborg and environmental hazards to human health
You know what they say about people who become statisticians? They lacked the personality to become accountants.
-
![]()
![]()
On Bjorn Lomborg and deforestation
In The Skeptical Environmentalist, Bjorn Lomborg writes that "basically, the world's forests are not under threat." A charitable reader could attribute this flawed conclusion to errors of omission and ignorance; perhaps the author simply doesn't know the sources well enough to interpret them properly. Less charitably, one might reasonably conclude that Lomborg intentionally selects his data and citations to distort or even reverse the truth. His interpretations of data on global forest cover and Indonesian forest fires aptly illustrate both failings.
-
![]()
![]()
On Bjorn Lomborg and species diversity
Bjorn Lomborg opens his chapter on biodiversity by citing my 1979 estimate of 40,000 species lost per year. He gets a lot of mileage out of that estimate throughout the chapter, although he does not cite any of my subsequent writings except for a single mention of a 1983 paper and a 1999 paper, neither of which deals much with extinction rates. Why doesn't he refer to the 80-plus papers I have published on biodiversity and mass extinction during the 20-year interim?
-
On Bjorn Lomborg and extinction
My greatest regret about the Lomborg scam is the extraordinary amount of scientific talent that has to be expended to combat it in the media. We will always have contrarians […]
-
A skeptical look at The Skeptical Environmentalist
Before the terrible events of Sept. 11 nudged our national mood towards nouveau-earnestness, skepticism was the disposition of the day. Bred in the swamps of transparent consumer manipulation, untrustworthy political leaders, and information overload, skepticism stamped a permanent question mark onto the brows of Generation X and seemed poised to become the watchword of our nation.
-
Ice, Ice, Maybe Not
The South Pole is treading on thin ice, according to a study presented yesterday that found rapid thinning in three of Antarctica’s largest glaciers. In the last 10 years, the […]
-
Sunder Water
The home of one of India’s leading environmentalists, Sunderlal Bahuguna, was flooded last week when the Indian government resumed work on the massive Tehri dam project. Bahuguna has spent two […]
-
That Extincts!
Environmentalists in Florida are concerned about state plans to weaken protections for the manatee and the red-cockaded woodpecker. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has developed a new set […]
