Skeptical vs. Gullible Environmentalism

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The July/August issue of Foreign Policy features a debate between Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's executive director, and Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Global Crises, Global Solutions. Unsurprisingly, Pope accuses Lomborg of promoting false choices, while Lomborg thinks Pope is just not thinking. Money quote from Lomborg:

Prioritizing really means some things must come last. Of course, we can make some investments in the environment without sacrificing economic progress, but we cannot make them all. Because the United States can afford F-16s does not mean it can also afford all environmental initiatives. We have to carefully spend our resources where they will do the most good. The solar installations you champion easily cost $450 apiece. Better-constructed $10 stoves can significantly reduce indoor air pollution. Do we want to help one family a little or 45 families a lot?

Ronald Bailey reviewed The Skeptical Environmentalist and uncovered the agenda behind the attacks on Lomborg's science in 2002. Charles Paul Freund deflated the PC attacks on Lomborg's honesty in 2003.

(Thanks to Johan Ugander for the link.)