Skeptic of Global Warming Makes Spectacular U-Turn

The winds of change may be blowing through the climate change debate.  At a time of sadly decreasing public support for government action on global warming, suddenly one of the world’s best known climate skeptics -– none other than Bjorn Lomborg, author of the book The Skeptical Environmentalist –- is executing a spectacular U-Turn.

In a new book to be published next month, Lomborg concludes that global warming is "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and "a challenge humanity must confront” by investing $100 billion a year to fight climate change pollution over the next century, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.

The issue of climate change is important for the Chesapeake Bay region, in part because sea-level rise driven by global warming is devouring wetlands and islands around the estuary. Warmer waters also make low-oxygen "dead zones" worse in the Bay and can stress aquatic vegetation (eelgrass) that is a key habitat for young blue crabs.

But The Washington Post recently published a discouraging analysis on the politics of global warming.  The newspaper concluded that recent death of climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate was an example of how American voters just don’t care enough about the issue.

And, a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that climate change ranked dead last in the public’s list of top priorities that the government should tackle. The percentage of folks who could give a Gore about the issue is falling, perhaps because of skepticism that Lomborg and others have been peddling to the media and public.  Only 29 percent of Americans surveyed in the 2010 poll thought that global warming should be a top priority, compared to 38 percent in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center.

Maybe now that the “skeptical environmentalist” has seen the light and has ditched doubt in favor of action, that percentage will start inching up, like the global thermometer.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

(Photo from World Trade Organization)

Comments

[Jeanne Catrow]

This is a big problem, and I would like to believe that society's apathy stems from having "bigger fish to fry" in this economy. Unfortunately, many only seek to support the short-term solutions to problems that affect them at the moment without seeing the larger picture. Hope Lomborg's input has an impact.

[Tom Pelton]

The interesting thing, Jeanne, will be to see not only how the public responds to Lomborg's change in message -- but how the conservative media handles it. The conservative media loved Lomborg and gave him lots of ink and air when he echoed their views. But now that he's singing a different song, it will be fascinating to see if they try to ignore him completely -- or if they again give him a podium.