Bjorn Lomberg is a committed environmentalist. He is also realistic about the costs of environmental regulation and what it does to standards of living around the world, especially in poorer countries. He has been alarmed by the hysteria around climate change and the incredible amounts of wasteful spending to mitigate a non-existent problem; money that could have been better spent to really help poor countries and people. He has written a recent article summarizing his views. He first points out that the hysterics have greatly exaggerated any climate change risks. The fact is that the human cost of extreme weather events has dropped dramatically over the last century, largely due to better identification technology He then explains the enormously wasteful spending aimed at preventing climate change–a hideous ratio of one dollar of spending producing only 11 cents of “benefit”, the benefit being a reduction in what the temperature would supposedly otherwise be. While Lomborg is, in my view, too willing to assume that any warming is human caused and is a potential problem, at least he attempts to be rational about solutions and future courses of action. A long article but worth the read. (SD Article)
