The Environmental Policy Realist

In The Skeptical Environmentalist, provocative Danish political scientist Bjørn Lomborg gave a unorthodox take on environmental policy. Using data and statistics, he argues that essentially every sacred cow of the feverish environmentalist movement—global warming, overpopulation, declining energy resources, deforestation, species loss, and water shortages—are exaggerated concerns unsupported by real analysis. Lomborg excoriates the environmental movement, and his work has transformed how policymakers view environmental policy.

In marked contrast is Jarrod Diamond’s Collapse, which suggests quite another view of how we should examine the environment. Throughout history, warnings about imminent ecological destruction—whether it be deforestation, climate change, resource scarcity, or overpopulation—were ignored by many societies at their peril. The threat of environmental degradation and exhausted resources can destroy civilizations.

A review in Nature called Diamond’s book a “necessary antidote” to Lomborg’s. I think that says it best—to properly understand the importance of the environment requires the layman to read both. (Both authors like the other’s work. Diamond recommends Lomborg’s book in his “Further Reading” section, and Lomborg recently stated that the book he wishes he had written was Collapse.) And I think the viewpoint that emerges from reading both texts is that of a solid realist.

The fuss about climate change is absurd considering the bigger problems we face—overpopulation, resource scarcity, and the coming energy crunch. (Yes, the earth’s climate is changing, and human’s are likely affecting it, but the causes are not as simple as too much CO2 and the costs required to make even the slightest dent in climate change would cost trillions of dollars.)

But that doesn’t mean we should ignore energy and resource saving measures. We have a sustainability problem. We are already seeing a scarcity of energy and resources at six billion people today. How will we do in half a century with nine billion people and, we hope, more people enjoying modern prosperity? I hope that human awareness of environmental problems can lead to economic and sustainable environmental management. Because in the final analysis, that’s the only way we can protect modern civilization.