The Great Barrier Reef: Best five years

2013-03-26 We've been tackling global warming badly for 20 years. And for a very simple reason: because we essentially try to tell people, "Could you please stop with all that fossil-fuel stuff?" The problem, of course, is fossil fuels are what power pretty much everything we like about civilization. We're not burning fossil fuels to annoy Al Gore. We're burning them because it makes us rich. Trying to tell people not to do that is a hard sell. (...) 

Even as the clean-up continues in the Atlantic Basin, a lot has been written about Hurricane Dean. Some commentators believe nature is sending us a message. They say that the effects of climate change are getting out of hand, and it is time to take action. We have heard this point many times before. With every "extreme weather event," passionate climate change activists ride a public wave of concern. Former Vice President Al Gore believes we must make drastic reductions in carbon emissions because weather-related disasters are on track to cost as much as $1 trillion by 2040. Mr.

In this discussion, Axel Kaiser talks with statistician and author Bjorn Lomborg, who challenges the traditional catastrophic narrative promoted by politicians and the media. While Lomborg acknowledges that climate change is a real problem that must be addressed, he demonstrates with evidence that humanity is more adapted and resilient than ever.