Hello Thor There's an apt picture of Bjorn Lomborg, author (perpetrator?) of "The Skeptical Environmentalist" here: http://www.anti-lomborg.com/
:-) The local troll at the SANET sustag group was pushing Lomborg recently as jolly good sensible stuff, and Misha Gale-Sinex, slightly irked, posted this: >Howdy, all-- > >Regarding assistant professor of statistics Bjorn Lomborg's >now-dated and discredited honkings about topics well outside his >area of expertise (i.e., biology, meteorology, ecology, climate >science, zoology, forestry, economics, public health, energy), see >the following scientists' views. > >One could choose to characterize every one of them as >"environmentalists" and thus dismiss them all as "ideological." I'd >say that choice reflects a psychological inclination (the common >bipolar disorder, A versus B thinking), not clear reasoning nor an >interest in understanding the complexities of human impacts on the >fabric of terrestrial life. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.html >Lomborg's own colleagues and Danish scientists distance themselves >from him. This is their statement. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Sorensen.pdf >Resources: "Lomborg's claims are untrue and dangerous" Henning >S¿rensen, Professor, dr.phil., former President of the Royal Danish >Academy of Sciences and Letters, Department of Geology, University >of Copenhagen. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Fjeldsaa.pdf >Species' extinction: "Lomborg's facts are absurd and irrelevant" Jon >Fjeldsaa, Professor, dr. scient., Vertebrate Department, Zoological >Museum, University of Copenhagen > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Schou.pdf >Economics: "Clean growth is not proven" >Poul Schou, MSc in economics, Ph.D. student at the Department of >Economics, University of Copenhagen. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Gundersen.et.al.pdf >Forest die-back: "Acid rain is not a myth" Per Gundersen, Senior >Researcher, Research Center for Forrest and Landscape (FSL), J. Bo >Larsen, Professor, Royal Agricultural University (KVL); Lars Bo >Pedersen, Senior Researcher, FSL and Karsten Raulund Rasmussen, >Chief Researcher, FSL. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Astrup%20Jensen.pdf >Pesticides: "Associate Professor always gets the last word" Allan >Astrup Jensen, Research Director, DK-Teknik. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Grandjean.pdf >Breast cancer: "Lomborg's errors" >Philippe Grandjean, Professor, dr.med., Institute of Public Health, >University of Southern Denmark. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Jorgens.Fedders.pdf >Climate change: "Greenhouse effect created by humans: Myth or reality?" >Anne Mette K. J¿rgensen, Ph.D., Head of Research Department, >Denmarks Meteorological Institute (DMI) and Henrik Feddersen, Ph.D., >Danish Climate Centre, DMI. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Skou%20Andersen.pdf >Climate and cost-benefit: "Lomborg's precarious model" Mikael Skou >Andersen, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Department of Political >Science, University of Aarhus. > >http://www.au.dk/~cesamat/debate.Politica.pdf >Book Review, Politica 1/1999 >"Bj¿rn Lomborg: Verdens sande tilstand (The True State of the >World), Viby: Centrum, 1998" (Politica is the scientific journal for >political science in Denmark). > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/wilson121201.asp >"Lomborg's estimate of extinction rates is at odds with the vast >majority of respected scholarship on extinction." >Biologist E.O. Wilson -- two-time Pulitzer prize winner, discoverer >of hundreds of new species, and one of the world's greatest living >scientists. > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/schneider121201.asp >"What a monumental waste of busy people's time countering the scores >upon scores of strawmen, misquotes, unbalanced statements, and >selective inattention to the full literature." Stephen H. Schneider, >one of the foremost climate scientists in the United States. > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/myers121201.asp >"Lomborg ignores or is ignorant of much of the work on extinction >rates.... a man who demonstrates repeatedly that he is not >acquainted with the basics of the issue." Norman Myers, an Honorary >Visiting Fellow of Oxford University, a member of the U.S. National >Academy of the Sciences, and a recipient of several of the world's >most prestigious environmental awards, looking at Lomborg on >biodiversity. > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/brown121201.asp >"Lomborg's fellow faculty members are concerned that his work does >not satisfy basic academic standards. Other reviewers have pointed >out that he has never published a single article in a refereed >scientific journal." Lester R. Brown, founder of the Worldwatch >Institute and the Earth Policy Institute, reviews Lomborg on >population. > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/matthews121201.asp >"Lomborg's interpretation of global forest cover and Indonesian >forest fires are just two examples of the incomplete and superficial >analyses that underpin too much of this book." Emily Matthews, a >forest expert and senior associate with the World Resources >Institute, reviewing Lomborg on forest issues. > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/hammond121201.asp >"His call for a more rational and scientific debate on environmental >issues would be more persuasive if he cited authoritative scientific >sources, quoted or paraphrased accurately, and used quantitative >examples correctly." Al Hammond, senior scientist at World Resources >Institute, reviewing Lomborg for mischaracterizing the contemporary >environmental movement and committing precisely the sins for which >he attacks environmentalists: exaggeration, sweeping >generalizations, the presentation of false choices, selective use of >data, and outright errors of fact. > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/davis121201.asp >"When it comes to public health, his lack of understanding of >science has led him to produce many fundamentally flawed analyses." >Devra Davis, a leading epidemiologist and environmental health >researcher, reviewing Lomborg on how the environment affects public >health. > >http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/nemtzow121201.asp >"In a manner more selective than skeptical, Lomborg extensively >documents energy discoveries and technological progress, while he >studiously neglects the enormous environmental cost of unchecked >energy consumption." Energy expert David Nemtzow, president of the >Alliance to Save Energy, reviewing Lomborg on energy. > >http://www.ucsusa.org/publication.cfm?publicationID=393 >Where's Waldo?--Lomborg the latest in the literary genre of people >who ignore mounting data and trends. Freshwater resources expert Dr. >Peter Gleick reviews /The Skeptical Environmentalist/. > >http://www.ucsusa.org/publication.cfm?publicationID=394 >Misuse of Data, Ignorance of Science >Review by Jerry Mahlman of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. > >http://www.ucsusa.org/publication.cfm?publicationID=395 >Biodiversity distortions in /The Skeptical Environmentalist/, by >E.O. Wilson, Thomas Lovejoy, Norman Myers, Jeffrey Harvey, Stuart >Pimm. > >As we know from the fulminations of Dennis Avery, playing the >contrarian requires only an untreated case of bipolar thinking (them >versus us, environmentalists versus scientists, emotion versus >reason, ___ versus ___) plus a bad case of attention-seeking. > >The photogenic, promotion-seeking Mr. Lomborg figured this out--as >Julian Simon and others have in the past. Media exposure can be a >great way to get tenure in an age where being interviewed by the >/New York Times/ is considered more important than, say, the complex >work of real research and reasoning, over decades. > >Since the mass media are caught up in sound bites and bipolar >thinking (point/counterpoint, pro/con, etc.), it is possible for the >most pathetic stuff to get big press, merely because its proponents >look good, talk in quotes, and offer View B, in contradistinction to >some View A. > >Thus the contrarian pumps the media for legitimacy merely by >strategically roaring "I'm agin it!" Mr. Lomborg's publications >prior to this book were on game theory and computer simulations. He >never did any professional research. A geek with an itch does not a >scientist make. > >But even media representatives are, one would hope, educable. > >http://www.wri.org/press/mk_lomborg.html >World Resources Institute >Debunking Pseudo-Scholarship: Things a journalist should know about >The Skeptical Environmentalist > >http://www.wri.org/press/mk_lomborg_09_things.html >Nine things a journalist should know. > >http://www.wri.org/press/mk_lomborg_10_things.html >Ten things an environmental journalist should know. > >http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/attachments/skep_env.pdf >Nine things journalists should know about /The Skeptical Environmentalist/ > >As for Dale's ongoing trolling for controversy, I wish you'd take >just one Logic 101 course, and maybe a couple of graduate seminars >at first-rate institutions in the history and sociology of science >and technology. > >If nothing else, get a copy of Darrell Huff's /How to Lie with >Statistics/ and read it. Our boy Bjorn doesn't understand the >difference between association and causation--one of the first >things anybody learns in Quantitative Research Methods 101--but Huff >does. > >Bjorn Lomborg is four-year-old herring salad. By now he smells >really bad and has been exposed as toxic. People are, of course, >entitled to ingest toxins--McDonald's has made billions on that >consumer fetish. But the rest of us are entitled to resist having >peculiar appetites foisted upon us. > >peace >mish > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Michele Gale-Sinex > >Home office: 360-459-5683 >Home office fax: Same as above, phone first for enabling >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >The Earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are >killing it have names and addresses. -Utah Philips Dale, safe and secure in his common bipolar disorder, as befits a troll, remained unfazed. I'd add the two links I posted yesterday: #737 - Environmental Trends -- Part 1, 11-08-01 http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/bulletin.cfm?Issue_ID=2114&bulletin_ID=48 #738 - Environmental Trends -- Part 2, 11-22-01 http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/bulletin.cfm?Issue_ID=2116&bulletin_ID=48 And this: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12072 The Tabloid Environmentalist And your Worldwatch link below, thanks. I'm about to add them all to this: The Enemies of Democracy http://journeytoforever.org/fyi_previous3.html#070701 One has to agree with Stephen H. Schneider: "What a monumental waste of busy people's time..." But people like Lomborg and Bailey are good at that. It's a dilemma - it has to be debunked, but on the other hand quantity counts for almost as much as quality when it comes to media coverage, it's sheer column-inches that count, whether pro or con - no publicity is bad publicity. That certainly applied to Lomborg. It's a great pity they can't be ignored. But that "almost" is important, and maybe it's what counts in the end - after all, Lomborg had his 15 minutes but now he's a dead herring. That won't happen to Bailey, Frumental, Avery, Milloy et al, because industry keeps right on pouring the funds in, pushing the column-inches to stay ahead of the debunkings (and the bad smell). Best Keith >I'd like to mention another book along the same lines >as Bailey's latest, that came out last year and caused >quite a stir, called "The Skeptical Environmentalist." > >You can read reviews of this and how its many claims >of falsely created environmental "problems" were >debunked here: >https://www.worldwatch.org/issues/skeptical.html > >best to all, > >thor > >===== >Grants Manager >Stillaguamish Tribe Of Indians >3439 Stoluckquamish Lane >P.O. 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