Panel: Skeptical Environmentalist Perverted Message 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, January 8, 2003 (ENS) - An
official Danish scientific ethics panel has ruled that
Bjorn Lomborg "perverted the scientific message" in
his book "The Sceptical Environmentalist," which
disputes the seriousness of many key environmental
problems. The decision is an embarrassment for the
Danish government, which last year installed Lomborg
as head of a new Environmental Assessment Institute
(IMV). 

Part of Denmark's Committees on Scientific Dishonesty,
the panel decided to examine Lomborg's book after
receiving several complaints. It has cleared him of
the most serious charge of misleading readers
deliberately or through gross negligence, but
nevertheless finds the book to be "clearly contrary to
the standards of good scientific practice." 


Bjorn Lomborg authored the controversial book. (Photo
courtesy Bjorn Lomborg)
A key challenge for the committee was whether, in
fact, the book could be regarded as a work of science
and therefore within its jurisdiction. 
A working party remained split over the issue for a
long time, but concluded that "subject to the proviso
that the book is to be evaluated as science, there has
been a perversion of the scientific message in the
form of systematically biased representation." 

The ruling has sparked a media storm in Denmark, with
the credibility both of Lomborg's institute and of the
government being called into question. Most Members of
Parliament want an inquiry into all the work carried
out by the IMV since it was set up a year ago, it is
being reported. 

Lomborg was unbowed yesterday, arguing that the
scientific committee had failed to document any
examples of bias. Neither had it taken a position on
accusations of bias levelled by others. The decision
was therefore "inexplicable," he said. 

A spokesperson at Lomborg's office told reporters he
does not intend to resign his position at IMV. 

"The Skeptical Environmentalist" challenges beliefs
that the global environment is progressively getting
worse. Lomborg maintains that the global environment
has actually improved and criticizes environmental
organizations that make "selective and misleading use
of scientific data to influence decisions about the
allocation of limited resources." 

In Chapter 1, Lomborg recognizes the hostility of the
Danish government to his attitude. "It is not
surprising, albeit a little depressing, that several
environmental pundits, and indeed the Danish Secretary
of the Environment, have tried to claim that I am
probably just a right wing radical - or at least a
messenger boy for the right. But of course, such an
argument is blatantly irrelevant. My claim is that
things are improving and this is necessarily a
discussion which has to be based on facts." 

"The Skeptical Environmentalist" is a "useful
corrective to the more alarmist accounts favored by
green activists and the media," Lomborg says. 

Lomborg is an associate professor of statistics in the
Department of Politital Science at Denmark's
University of Aarhus. In 1998 he published four
articles about the state of the environment in a
Danish newspaper, which generated over 400 articles in
major metropolitan newspapers debating his views. The
articles led to the publication of "The Skeptical
Environmentalist" in 2001, which has now been
published in English, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic,
German, and Portugese. 


{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily,
Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental
Data Services Ltd, London. Email: [log in to unmask]

 
 
 
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--- Steven Bissell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> My Christmas dive trip went OK, but high winds and
> tricky currents kept
> me out of the water too much, so I'm off to Saba in
> the Dutch Antilles
> (us macho divers call it "The Rock") for a week. I'm
> going to a two week
> meditation retreat in Maui in Feb, preceded by a
> week of diving on Kona
> (enlightenment is heavy work). As soon as I get back
> my son and I are
> going to Belize for a week of diving. Life is good.
> 
> Hope you all had a good holiday season. I guess I
> got the list going a
> bit, but frankly it became boring after one day. I'm
> surprised there
> even is such a panel, but there you go. I still
> think Lomborg is a
> fraud, but I do envy anyone able to make $$ with a
> book. 
> 
> Carry on in your usual fashion. Keep the faith Lisa,
> if Universities
> will hire the likes of moi and JT, you have a better
> than average
> chance.
> Steven
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: L.M. Dangutis [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 7:53 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Hi Everyone,
> 
> Hi All,
> 
>     My spam mail was a little scary, heh? :)
> The whackos out there! Anyway, how is everyone one?
> I was subbing in a long term math position, the
> school told me I had it for the year, then the
> state was on their case because I hadn't finished
> cert yet, and they hired a perm teacher. Oh well,
> I'll still finish my cert. but I think I want to
> be a professor, anyhow. More time to spend on list
> serves. :)
> 
> Have a good one,
> Li-
> 
> =====
> Lisa Dangutis
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> The Sunshine Environment
> Linkhttp://www.thesunshineenvironmentlink.org
> 
> Google Key Words: The Sunshine Environment
> 
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=====

Lisa Dangutis
[log in to unmask]

The Sunshine Environment Link

http://www.thesunshineenvironmentlink.org

Google Key Words: The Sunshine Environment Link


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