My suggestion is that we should first work to ensure the Third World has clean drinking water and sa...
Show more »
My suggestion is that we should first work to ensure the Third World has clean drinking water and sanitation.
Show less «
Money spent on carbon cuts is money we can't use for effective investments in food aid, micronutrien...
Show more »
Money spent on carbon cuts is money we can't use for effective investments in food aid, micronutrients, HIV/AIDS prevention, health and education infrastructure, and clean water and sanitation.
Show less «
The main environmental challenge of the 21st century is poverty. When you don't know where your next...
Show more »
The main environmental challenge of the 21st century is poverty. When you don't know where your next meal is coming from, it's hard to consider the environment 100 years down the line.
Show less «
There is no doubt that we should take solar radiation into account. We have seen ground temperatures...
Show more »
There is no doubt that we should take solar radiation into account. We have seen ground temperatures rising since 1975, and it is important to know to what extent that has been caused by the sun or by carbon dioxide.
Show less «
When a business group tells us there is nothing wrong with the environment, naturally they may have ...
Show more »
When a business group tells us there is nothing wrong with the environment, naturally they may have good arguments, but we are also skeptical, because we know that they have an interest in these things.
Show less «
The saddest fact of climate change - and the chief reason we should be concerned about finding a pro...
Show more »
The saddest fact of climate change - and the chief reason we should be concerned about finding a proper response - is that the countries it will hit hardest are already among the poorest and most long-suffering.
Show less «
Just because there is a problem doesn't mean that we have to solve it, if the cure is going to be mo...
Show more »
Just because there is a problem doesn't mean that we have to solve it, if the cure is going to be more expensive than the original ailment.
Show less «
There is no question that global warming will have a significant impact on already existing problems...
Show more »
There is no question that global warming will have a significant impact on already existing problems such as malaria, malnutrition, and water shortages. But this doesn't mean the best way to solve them is to cut carbon emissions.
Show less «
It seems incontrovertible to me that there is a global warming effect and that it is going to be ser...
Show more »
It seems incontrovertible to me that there is a global warming effect and that it is going to be serious, probably not in the amount of, say, six degrees warming, but it's likely that we'll get two to three degrees warming and that will be serious enough.
Show less «
Think on a 50-year scale, which is a much more natural time-scale for global warming. The US is righ...
Show more »
Think on a 50-year scale, which is a much more natural time-scale for global warming. The US is right now spending about 200 million dollars annually on research into renewable energy.
Show less «
We have to be aware that the scientific community throws up tons of different hypotheses and at a ce...
Show more »
We have to be aware that the scientific community throws up tons of different hypotheses and at a certain point we'll find out who was right and who was wrong. But we have to go with the best information right now, which I would claim to be the IPCC reports.
Show less «
But this is an occupational hazard of being a scientist. You say this is the best information I have...
Show more »
But this is an occupational hazard of being a scientist. You say this is the best information I have and then you realize that not everyone is going to read the footnotes or the whole book, so people are going to get the wrong impression.
Show less «
The Kyoto treaty has an estimated cost of between US$150 and $350 billion a year, starting in 2010.
The Kyoto treaty has an estimated cost of between US$150 and $350 billion a year, starting in 2010.
Global warming is real - it is man-made and it is an important problem. But it is not the end of the...
Show more »
Global warming is real - it is man-made and it is an important problem. But it is not the end of the world.
Show less «
If we invest in researching and developing energy technology, we'll do some real good in the long ru...
Show more »
If we invest in researching and developing energy technology, we'll do some real good in the long run, rather than just making ourselves feel good today. But climate change is not the only challenge of the 21st century, and for many other global problems we have low-cost, durable solutions.
Show less «
On average, global warming is not going to harm the developing world.
On average, global warming is not going to harm the developing world.
To some, a cap-and-trade system might sound like a neat approach where the market sorts everything o...
Show more »
To some, a cap-and-trade system might sound like a neat approach where the market sorts everything out. But in fact, in some ways it is worse than a tax. With a tax, the costs are obvious. With a cap-and-trade system, the costs are hidden and shifted around. For that reason, many politicians tend to like it. But that is dangerous.
Show less «
The fact that we're catching more fish per person than we've ever done before doesn't mean that ther...
Show more »
The fact that we're catching more fish per person than we've ever done before doesn't mean that there are not particular places where we've managed fisheries badly.
Show less «
When thinking about the future, it is fashionable to be pessimistic. Yet the evidence unequivocally ...
Show more »
When thinking about the future, it is fashionable to be pessimistic. Yet the evidence unequivocally belies such pessimism. Over the past centuries, humanity's lot has improved dramatically - in the developed world, where it is rather obvious, but also in the developing world, where life expectancy has more than doubled in the past 100 years.
Show less «
We need to invest dramatically in green energy, making solar panels so cheap that everybody wants th...
Show more »
We need to invest dramatically in green energy, making solar panels so cheap that everybody wants them. Nobody wanted to buy a computer in 1950, but once they got cheap, everyone bought them.
Show less «
In the rich world, the environmental situation has improved dramatically. In the United States, the ...
Show more »
In the rich world, the environmental situation has improved dramatically. In the United States, the most important environmental indicator, particulate air pollution, has been cut by more than half since 1955, rivers and coastal waters have dramatically improved, and forests are increasing.
Show less «
I found university a little dispiriting. I thought I would enter the great halls of Plato, but inste...
Show more »
I found university a little dispiriting. I thought I would enter the great halls of Plato, but instead I entered the halls of an intellectual sausage factory. I wanted to do something not on the main course, and chose the environment.
Show less «
If every country committed to spending 0.05 per cent of GDP on researching non-carbon-emitting energ...
Show more »
If every country committed to spending 0.05 per cent of GDP on researching non-carbon-emitting energy technologies, that would cost $25 billion a year, and it would do a lot more than massive carbon cuts to fight warming and save lives.
Show less «
To prepare adequately for the challenge of global warming, we must acknowledge both the good and the...
Show more »
To prepare adequately for the challenge of global warming, we must acknowledge both the good and the bad that it will bring. If our starting point is to prove that Armageddon is on its way, we will not consider all of the evidence, and will not identify the smartest policy choices.
Show less «
The obvious issue is providing clean drinking water and sanitation to every single human being on ea...
Show more »
The obvious issue is providing clean drinking water and sanitation to every single human being on earth at the cost of little more than one year of the Kyoto treaty.
Show less «
A review was published in Nature, very scathing, essentially calling me incompetent, though they did...
Show more »
A review was published in Nature, very scathing, essentially calling me incompetent, though they didn't use that word. I am putting a reply on my Web site in a few days, where I go through their arguments, paragraph by paragraph.
Show less «
We worry about the seemingly ever-increasing number of natural catastrophes. Yet this is mainly a co...
Show more »
We worry about the seemingly ever-increasing number of natural catastrophes. Yet this is mainly a consequence of CNN - we see many more, but the number is roughly constant, and we manage to deal much better with them over time. Globally, the death rate from catastrophes has dropped about fifty-fold over the past century.
Show less «
Even if every major government were to slap huge taxes on carbon fuels - which is not going to happe...
Show more »
Even if every major government were to slap huge taxes on carbon fuels - which is not going to happen - it wouldn't do much to halt climate change any time soon. What it would do is cost us hundreds of billions - if not trillions - of dollars, because alternative energy technologies are not yet ready to take up the slack.
Show less «
I really try to say things as they basically are and it so happens that it is a good message that th...
Show more »
I really try to say things as they basically are and it so happens that it is a good message that things are getting better, but there are still problems.
Show less «
I'm no expert on American politics.
I'm no expert on American politics.
Of course, the world is full of problems. But on the other hand it's important to get the sense... a...
Show more »
Of course, the world is full of problems. But on the other hand it's important to get the sense... are we generally moving in the right direction or the wrong direction?
Show less «
So it's mainly a question of helping the Third World overcome the effects of global warming.
So it's mainly a question of helping the Third World overcome the effects of global warming.
I'm a vegetarian, but I don't expect other people not to eat meat.
I'm a vegetarian, but I don't expect other people not to eat meat.
Lots of people say we should fly less, heat less, and put on a sweater. But it's not going to happen...
Show more »
Lots of people say we should fly less, heat less, and put on a sweater. But it's not going to happen. People are happy to say that for other people, but not themselves.
Show less «
I think it's great that we have organisations like Greenpeace. In a pluralistic society, we want to ...
Show more »
I think it's great that we have organisations like Greenpeace. In a pluralistic society, we want to have people who point out all the problems that the Earth could encounter. But we need to understand that they are not presenting a full and rounded view.
Show less «
I think Al Gore has done a great service in making global warming cool. He's basically taken it from...
Show more »
I think Al Gore has done a great service in making global warming cool. He's basically taken it from a nerdy, almost ignored issue to making it what it is - namely, a problem.
Show less «
The second thing is, if you want to do something about global warming, you have to think much more l...
Show more »
The second thing is, if you want to do something about global warming, you have to think much more long-term. There is something wrong with saying we should start using renewables now, while they are still incredibly expensive.
Show less «
Even if I was a bad right wing guy, to the extent of whether my arguments are right or wrong, they'r...
Show more »
Even if I was a bad right wing guy, to the extent of whether my arguments are right or wrong, they're right or wrong independently if I'm right or left.
Show less «
'The Skeptical Environmentalist' was much more the idea of the scientific argument of realizing that...
Show more »
'The Skeptical Environmentalist' was much more the idea of the scientific argument of realizing that we need to be skeptical about a lot of these stories that we hear and to put them in context.
Show less «
Wishful thinking is not sound public policy.
Wishful thinking is not sound public policy.
Obviously any group that has to have funding also needs to get attention to their issues.
Obviously any group that has to have funding also needs to get attention to their issues.
Listen, global warming is a real problem, but it' s not the end of the world. A 30-centimetre sea le...
Show more »
Listen, global warming is a real problem, but it' s not the end of the world. A 30-centimetre sea level rise is just not going to bring the world to a standstill, just like it didn't over the last 150 years.
Show less «
For the longest time in Denmark I didn't want to say what I was politically. I thought it was irrele...
Show more »
For the longest time in Denmark I didn't want to say what I was politically. I thought it was irrelevant.
Show less «
I'm an old member of Greenpeace. I worried intensely, as I think most of my friends did, that the wo...
Show more »
I'm an old member of Greenpeace. I worried intensely, as I think most of my friends did, that the world was coming apart.
Show less «
I tentatively believe in a god. I was brought up in a fairly religious home. I think the world is co...
Show more »
I tentatively believe in a god. I was brought up in a fairly religious home. I think the world is compatible with reincarnation, karma, all that stuff.
Show less «
The only thing that will really change global warming in the long run is if we radically increase th...
Show more »
The only thing that will really change global warming in the long run is if we radically increase the speed with which we get alternative technologies to deal with climate change.
Show less «
