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Movies => Press Releases and Film News => Topic started by: Allhallowsday on August 31, 2010, 07:49:43 PM



Title: Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
Post by: Allhallowsday on August 31, 2010, 07:49:43 PM
Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course 
With scientific data piling up showing that the world  has reached its hottest-ever point in recorded history, global-warming skeptics are facing a high-profile defection from their ranks. Bjorn Lomborg, author of the influential tract "The Skeptical Environmentalist," has reversed course on the urgency of global warming, and is now calling for action on "a challenge humanity must confront."

Lomborg, a Danish academic, had previously downplayed the risk of acute climate change. A former member of Greenpeace, he was a vocal critic of the Kyoto Protocol -- a global U.N. treaty to cut carbon emissions that the United States refused to ratify -- as well as numerous other environmental causes.

"The Skeptical Environmentalist," published in 2001, argued that many key preoccupations of the environmental movement, including pollution control and biodiversity, were either overblown as threats or amenable to relatively simple technological fixes. Lomborg argued that the governments spending billions to curb carbon emissions would be better off diverting those resources to initiatives such as AIDS research, anti-malaria programs and other kinds of humanitarian aid.   

Lomborg's essential argument was: Yes, global warming is real and human behavior is the main reason for it, but the world has far more important things to worry about.

Oh, how times have changed.

In a book to be published this year, Lomborg calls global warming "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and calls for the world's governments to invest tens of billions of dollars annually to fight climate change... 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100831/sc_yblog_upshot/noted-anti-global-warming-scientist-reverses-course (http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100831/sc_yblog_upshot/noted-anti-global-warming-scientist-reverses-course)


Title: Re: Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
Post by: ulthar on August 31, 2010, 08:17:50 PM
Quote from: TheDumbArticle

Lomborg's essential argument was: Yes, global warming is real and human behavior is the main reason for it, but the world has far more important things to worry about.


That's not exactly an "anti-global-warming" stance.

The "former member of Greenpeace" did not change anything except his priority.

AHD, could you at least post articles that are internally self-consistent with their sensationalist headlines?   :wink: :teddyr:


Title: Re: Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
Post by: Allhallowsday on August 31, 2010, 08:21:11 PM
Quote from: TheDumbArticle
Lomborg's essential argument was: Yes, global warming is real and human behavior is the main reason for it, but the world has far more important things to worry about.
That's not exactly an "anti-global-warming" stance.
The "former member of Greenpeace" did not change anything except his priority.
AHD, could you at least post articles that are internally self-consistent with their sensationalist headlines?   :wink: :teddyr:
In a book to be published this year, Lomborg calls global warming "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and calls for the world's governments to invest tens of billions of dollars annually to fight climate change... 


Title: Re: Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
Post by: ulthar on August 31, 2010, 09:13:49 PM
Yes, but he was NEVER anti-global warming; he just thought there was OTHER problems MORE pressing and thus more deserving of money (like fighting AIDS, according to the article).

The headline is disingenuous.  The ONLY point he reversed his course on was that yes, we SHOULD spend money on this problem that he recognized as a problem (of lower priority) all along.

So, yes, he changed his mind about something.  But, he did not switch from "global warming is not real" to "global warming is real" like the headline implies.



Title: Re: Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
Post by: Allhallowsday on September 01, 2010, 11:38:09 AM
Yes, but he was NEVER anti-global warming; he just thought there was OTHER problems MORE pressing and thus more deserving of money (like fighting AIDS, according to the article).

The headline is disingenuous.  The ONLY point he reversed his course on was that yes, we SHOULD spend money on this problem that he recognized as a problem (of lower priority) all along.

So, yes, he changed his mind about something.  But, he did not switch from "global warming is not real" to "global warming is real" like the headline implies.
Absolutely fair commentary, and headlines are intended to grab attention.  However, BJORN LOMBORG has been quoted thus:
Before quote: "In 20 years' time, we’ll look back and wonder why we worried so much." (2002)
After quote: "We actually have only one option: we all need to start seriously focusing, right now, on the most effective ways to fix global warming." (2010)


http://theweek.com/article/index/206686/6-global-warming-skeptics-who-changed-their-minds (http://theweek.com/article/index/206686/6-global-warming-skeptics-who-changed-their-minds)
 

He did publish a book 10 years ago entitled The Skeptical Environmentalist...


Title: Re: Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
Post by: ulthar on September 01, 2010, 11:51:36 AM

headlines are intended to grab attention. 


But not lie.  You can defend this stupid crap from Yahoo all you want; I'm done with it.


Title: Re: Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course
Post by: Allhallowsday on September 01, 2010, 04:25:40 PM
headlines are intended to grab attention. 
But not lie.  You can defend this stupid crap from Yahoo all you want; I'm done with it.
Who's defending it?   :bluesad:  The point is the information, not the headline. :lookingup: