By Walt Barnhart Contributing Editor
Climate change zealots who sound alarms about a pending climate apocalypse that will soon destroy the planet won’t think much of the book False Alarm. Neither will climate change deniers who believe the topic is just the product of liberals intent on controlling our lives.
That’s because the author, Bjorn Lomborg, is a climate change believer who thinks activists, the media and politicians have gotten way off course when it comes to the subject, and that the “rhetoric is vastly exaggerated.” He presents a strong, well-researched, rational argument that, while climate change exists, it is not the end of the world. Furthermore, he believes policies currently being taken to address the problem are worse than ineffective, they’re counterproductive.
Scary stories told in the media just don’t hold water, Lomborg says. But in this respect, the believers are single minded. The world, they say, is going to end, and nothing but a focus on the climate matters.
But their cries ignore the science. For one thing, global warming is causing an unprecedented greening of the world. Because of increases in carbon dioxide over the past three decades, upwards of half of the world’s vegetated area is getting greener, whereas only 4 percent is browning. Reforestation and more intensive agriculture also contribute to the earth’s greening.
Hurricanes may be increasing in intensity, but people are getting better at living through them, and global climate- related deaths have decreased tremendously since 1920. Lomborg also thinks zealots often don’t put the topic into context. For instance, humans adapt to climate changes – something few current models touted by activists acknowledge. We find ways of reducing risks and increasing comfort.
Airplanes, electric cars, smaller families, solar and wind power, vegetarianism – Lomborg puts these and other climate issues into context, showing where advocates and the media have made critical mistakes. He even demonstrates how the lauded Paris Agreement will accomplish next to nothing, even if all of its promises are kept, reducing the increase in temperature rises by the end of the century to a paltry .4 degrees F.
Reports from the United Nations have revealed that the last decade of climate action has resulted in … nothing. And most everything being proposed by climate activists will lead to nothing as well.
“Even if the entire rich world stopped all its CO2 emissions today and never emitted another ton of CO2 – an utterly devastating scenario some twenty times stronger every year than the 2020 global COVID-19 lockdowns – it would only reduce global warming by the end of the century by less than 0.8 degrees F.”
An economist and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford who was named by Time as one of the 100 Most Influential People of the World, Lomborg doesn’t exit without presenting five ideas for good policies to address climate change. The first is a moderate but increasing global carbon tax, which he admits might make the world better but not by a lot.
The second is for research into green innovation that will reduce the use of fossil fuels. Adaptation is also on Lomborg’s list, which involves looking for ways of protecting humanity from natural disasters, rising sea levels and increasing temperatures. Research into geoengineering to impact climate also might help. Finally, increasing the prosperity of poorer countries will let them take actions that will put them on better footing for a future with higher temperatures and results from climate changes.
Fear mongering is just unwarranted, Lomborg says. In almost every way, life on earth is better than ever before. We have doubled life expectancy since 1900, people are more literate, and we’re living in generally peaceful times. There have been substantial cuts in air pollution, higher agricultural yields, improved access to clean water – the list goes on.
While it will have an overall negative impact on the world, climate change will pale in comparison to global positives, Lomborg believes. And reducing global warming is only one of many things we can do to make the world a better place.
“Even if the entire rich world stopped all its CO2 emissions today and never emitted another ton of CO2 – an utterly devastating scenario some twenty times stronger every year than the 2020 global COVID-19 lockdowns – it would only reduce global warming by the end of the century by less than 0.8 degrees F.”
– Bjorn Lomborg
