Lomborg Frenzy Takes Hold in Denmark

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http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2003/2003-01-09-04.asp

 

 

Lomborg Frenzy Takes Hold in Denmark

COPHENHAGEN, Denmark, January 9, 2003 (ENS) - Controversy surrounding author

Bjorn Lomborg continued to rage in Denmark today following Tuesday's ruling by

an official scientific ethics panel that he had " perverted the scientific

message " in his 2001 book " The Sceptical Environmentalist. "

Lomborg contends in the book that claims made by environmentalists about global

warming, energy, overpopulation, species loss, deforestation, water scarcity,

and a host of other issues are exaggerations that are not supported by a proper

analysis of environmental data.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Environment Minister Hans Christian

Schmidt said they stand by last year's appointment of Lomborg as head of a new

Environmental Assessment Institute (IMV).

{Bjorn Lomborg (Photo courtesy Bjorn Lomborg)}They said the government had

complete confidence in the work of the institute despite the finding by a panel

of the Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty that Lomborg's book was

" clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice. "

Rasmussen said that Lomborg's job would not be a matter for discussion when the

IMV board meets next Monday to discuss its response to the furore. However, the

Prime Minister said he is considering calling for an investigation by

" independent experts " of reports previously published by the institute in order

to prevent critics from dismissing its work in the future.

In its short life, IMV has produced several controversial reports, for example

urging maximum use of the Kyoto climate protocol's flexible mechanisms in place

of domestic greenhouse gas emission cuts.

In another report, Lomborg's institute criticised a new deposit system on

one-way drinks containers introduced by the government to boost recycling,

arguing that they imposed excessive socio-economic costs for " dubious "

environmental benefits.

The IMV has also challenged WWF, the conservation group, over its series of

reports assessing the ecological footprint of the world economy as substantially

exceeding the earth's carrying capacity.

IMV board chairman Ole Kristensen said Lomborg, a political scientist with a

background in statistics, had been employed not only because of his book but

also on the basis of his previous work, and there was no reason to doubt that

his professional qualifications were in order. In any case, Kristensen added,

the ethics panel was wrong to treat " The Sceptical Environmentalist " as a

strictly scientific work when it was clearly intended to challenge received

opinion and provoke debate.

On Tuesday, Lomborg rebutted the Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty

(DCSD) in a statement that calls the panel's ruling " completely unfounded. "

" The main conclusion by DCSD finds that my book is 'clearly contrary to the

standards of good scientific practice' because of systematically biased

selection of data and arguments, " wrote Lomborg. " But since the DCSD has

neglected to take their position on the technical scientific disputes their

conclusions are completely unfounded. "

" The DCSD does not give a single example to demonstrate their claim of a biased

choice of data and arguments, " Lomborg wrote. " Consequently, I don't understand

this ruling. It equals an accusation without defining the crime. "

In its January 2002 issue, " Scientific American " published the feature

" Misleading Math about the Earth, " in which four environmental experts — Stephen

Schneider, John Holdren, John Bongaarts and Thomas Lovejoy — criticized

arguments of the " The Skeptical Environmentalist " on global warming, energy,

overpopulation and biodiversity. {Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, a tropical and

conservation biologist, has been adviser to three U.S. Presidents and is chief

biodiversity advisor to the president of the World Bank. (Photo courtesy

California Biodiversity News) }

Lomborg is particularly angered by the way the DCSD treated the complaints put

forth in the " Scientific American " article. " This is a one year old discussion,

which I participated in at that time by writing a 34 page response. But in spite

of the fact that the DCSD received a copy of my response, they refer to none of

my arguments. In fact the only thing that the DCSD does is to repeat the

" Scientific American " arguments over six pages, while only allowing my arguments

1½ line. This seems to reflect an extremely biased procedure. On top of that the

DCSD has failed to evaluate the scientific points in dispute outlined in

" Scientific American " article. "

Hans Henrik Brydensholt, a High Court judge who is chairman of the DCSD, gave

weight to the complaints outlined by the four scientists writing in " Scientific

American. "

Brydensholt wrote in the panel's ruling, " On the basis of the material adduced

by the complainants, and particularly the assessment in " Scientific American, "

DCSD deems it to have been adequately substantiated that the defendant, who has

himself insisted on presenting his publication in scientific form and not

allowing the book to assume the appearance of a provocative debate-generating

paper, based on customary scientific standards and in light of his systematic

onesidedness in the choice of data and line of argument, has clearly acted at

variance with good scientific practice. "

The DCSD ruling, in English, is online at:

http://www.forsk.dk/uvvu/nyt/udtaldebat/bl_decision.htm

The " Scientific American " controversy is detailed here:

The Skeptical Environmentalist is published by Cambridge University Press, 2001

 

{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for

environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email:

envdaily}

 

 

 

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