Since I know not everyone has time to read 26-page pdf files, I thought I’d save Alas readers a bit of time.
Shorter Judge Alex Kozinski reviews Bjørn Lomborg’s
- Our world’s environment is the best world environment in the best of all possible worlds.
- Lomberg’s opinion on the environment is unconventional. You can tell it’s unconventional because it is shared by myself and tens of thousands of other libertarians.
- Environmentalists are dweebs.
Aren’t Lovborg’s opinions also shared by virtually all officers of large corporations which directly or indirectly profit by pollution and the destructive, possibly unsustainable extraction of natural resources animal, mineral and vegetable?
Why blame libertarians only?
Ahhhh, Lomborg. You enfant terrible, you gadfly of the left, you tweaker of environmentalist noses.
You lousy scientist.
Am I in a time warp, here? I’d thought the CW had long since (if reluctantly) dismissed Lomborg as hopelessly biased and laughably ignorant. Hell, two years ago his (then-nascent) book was thrashed as warmed-over Simon, which ought to be enough to discredit it in all but the most dogmatically knee-jerk of circles.
Now, Kip, just because the CW “moved on” doesn’t mean the rest of the world has caught up. And it certainly doesn’t mean Lomborg has stopped spewing the same nonsense nor that people have not stopped accepting it as Truth—to the effect of poisoning of CW’s well.
(Cool links, tho.)
In addition, there is a clever review by Richard M. Fisher I remembered reading on the CSICOP website (originally published in the “Skeptikal Enquirer” magazine, Nov.-Dec. 2002 issue):
http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-11/environment.html
Fisher’s use of Carl Sagan’s “baloney detection kit” leads to the following unambiguous conclusion:
“As you can see from the above analysis, people like Lomborg can get quite a bit of mileage debunking science. The anti-science tools I’ve mentioned are just a few in the larger collection Sagan sets out in ‘The Demon-Haunted World’. They can be quite fun to use, as a destructive exercise. (…)
Unfortunately, the only groups that will be served by Lomborg’s book will be the pro-development and anti-environmental lobbies. No doubt they’ve been clamoring for a “feel good” book like this, after all the bad news. I’ve already seen the book trotted out at globalization meetings hosted by private interest groups favoring free trade. In sum, I’d give Lomborg’s book a pass. Go to the public library and check out ‘Demon-Haunted World’ instead.”
And let’s not forget the sound thrashing (twice!) that Lomberg got in the American Scientist.
I have read the Lomburg Review [Michigan Law Review] and wish to ask permission to republish it on a new site I am preparing [www.curmudgeon.ca ] but cannot find an e-mail address for the learned Justice. If Justice Kozinski sees this, may I have such permission? The site will be non profit,and will be open to public comment on all sorts of public issues [ from a curmudgeonly point of view]. If a reader knows the Justice’s e-mail, could you forward it please. thanx crm