Environment

Activists’ tales of doom never pan out, but they leave us poorly informed and feed bad policy.
 

Stanford's Hoover Institute fellow Bjorn Lomborg responds to a Washington Post article alleging that house plants are bad for the planet. #FoxNews

We’re erring on the side of positive expectations again. This time with Bjørn Lomborg. His new book is Best Things First. There he sets his sights on cost effective, acheivable goals that will lift the world’s poorest out of miserable conditions and inch us along in the direction towards those sustainable goals we hear about so much. We ask the minuscule billions of dollars question: Are the world’s most prosperous ready for such tangible win-win?

Ahead of the UN General Assembly next month where the Global Goals for 2030 will be a major talking point, Lomborg is promoting the most effective solutions in media around the world, urging the UN and its member states to prioritize those solutions that will do the greatest amount of good per dollar spent.
Take a look at his new interview with Michael Shermer.

“World leaders have promised everything to everyone. But they are failing….” says Bjørn Lomborg, “…The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are supposed to be delivered by 2030. The goals literally promise everything, like eradicating poverty, hunger and disease; stopping war and climate change, ending corruption, fixing education along with countless other promises. This year, the world is at halftime for its promises, but nowhere near halfway.” 

It turns out the percentage of the globe that burns each year has been declining since 2001.

This conversation draws attention to the importance for a rational, data-inspired response to global issues. As a successful entrepreneur, I say often, data is the most information rich data stream. Every decision you make and in every approach to solving novel problems, data must be at the center of the decision, otherwise you’re speculating and relying on emotion.

This is an audio version of the essay Bjorn Lomborg and Jordan Peterson wrote for The Telegraph, which was published right before the COP27 conference.

The Do-able Dozen: There is one clear opportunity for humanity — boosting agricultural research and development for the poorest half of the planet

Bjørn is the author of False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.
With his think tank, the Copenhagen Consensus, he has worked with hundreds of the world’s top economists and seven Nobel Laureates to find and promote the most effective solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, from disease and hunger to climate and education.