The skeptical environmentalist : measuring the real state of the world
Bjorn Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace, challenges widely held beliefs that the global environment is progressively getting worse. Using statistical information from internationally recognized research institutes, Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental issues and documents that the global environment has actually improved. Throughout the book, his sources are fully referenced, allowing discerning readers to investigate the facts used to support his argument. Lomborg criticizes the way many environmental organizations make selective and misleading use of scientific data to influence decisions about the allocation of limited resources. Written by a nonpartisan, independent thinker, The Skeptical Environmentalist is a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favored by green activists and the media
Print Book, English, ©2001
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ©2001
Book
xxiii, 515 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
9780521804479, 9780521010689, 0521804477, 0521010683
45618321
PART I: THE LITANY: Things are getting better
Why do we hear so much bad news?
PART II: HUMAN WELFARE: Measuring human welfare
Life expectancy and health
Food and hunger
Prosperity
Conclusion to Part II; Unprecedented human prosperity
PART III: CAN HUMAN PROSPERITY CONTINUE? : Are we living on borrowed time?
Will we have enough food?
Forests: are we losing them?
Energy
Non-energy resources
Water
Conclusion to part III; Continued prosperity
PART IV: POLLUTION: DOES IT UNDERCUT HUMAN PROSPERITY? : Air pollution
Acid rain and forest death
Indoor air pollution
Allergies and asthma
Water pollution
Waste: running out of space?
Conclusion to part IV: The pollution burden has diminished
PART V: TOMORROW'S PROBLEMS: Our chemical fears
Biodiversity
Global warming
PART VI: THE REAL STATE OF THE WORLD: Predicament or progress?
Originally published in Danish as Verdens sande tilstand, 1998
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