Lomborg Meeting Downplays Importance of Climate Change
Bjorn Lomborg is vexing enviros once again. The Danish contrarian — who generated heaps of controversy a few years ago with his book The Skeptical Environmentalist, which argued that many environmental concerns are overblown — is back in the headlines, this time for organizing a workshop of eight top-notch economists at which they decided which of the world’s problems were most pressing and deserving of funds. Tackling HIV/AIDS, malaria, and malnutrition topped their list, while addressing climate change ended up at the bottom. A number of environmentalists and scientists characterized the gathering as a stunt designed to further Lomborg’s anti-environmental agenda. “We shouldn’t choose between poverty eradication and prevention of climate change,” said Christian Jorgensen of the Danish Ecological Council. Lomborg denied that the workshop was biased toward any particular agenda.
