Author Bjørn Lomborg's argument that "we should not worry much about the state of the world" is "woefully inadequate," according to Grubb, of London's Environmental Policy and Management Group and the Cambridge University.
The breadth of Lomborg's 539-page book, including 25 chapters and nearly 3,000 endnotes, "is certainly impressive," and he offers "compelling" arguments to support his theory that the environment is improving, Grubb writes: "He establishes a convincing case that, in general, humanity is better off today than it has ever been in terms of standard welfare measures and of many enironmental indicators."
But, Grubb says, Lomborg's book gives little recognition to modern environmental professionals and authoritative assessments by the European Union, for example, and instead focuses on a "barely a dozen veterans of the environmental movement." In some cases, Grubb notes, the primary work of those individuals was completed decades ago.
Most importantly, Grubb says, Lomborg fails to make the connection between new policies and environmental advances. Major improvements in London's air quality, for instance, were directly driven by the 1956 Clean Air Act, which banned raw coal combustion across large portions of London, and by various domestic and European legislation governing vehicle exhausts, Grubb notes. "This dramatic impact evident from 1957 onwards is obvious in Lomborg's own graph," Grubb asserts. "His denial of the fundamental cause [of London's environmental improvement] is, at best, inexcusable ignorance."
Lomborg argues that pessimistic environmental reporting kindles public anxiety, which "as seen from a democratic viewpoint, skews the unbiased choice of the electorate." Grubb counters, however, that in cases such as the U.S. experience with acid rain, "environmental regulations have almost always proved considerably cheaper than their opponents have claimed they would, and hardly any are repealed on grounds of costs."
As for concerns about global warming, Grubb writes: Lomborg "accepts that there is a climate problem," but he believes "technologies will solve it without either economic or behavioral incentives." Research has clearly shown that "improvement does not fall as manna from the heavens," Grubb reports, but requires economic incentives, such as those contained within the Kyoto Protocol, which Lomborg dismisses.
One of Lomborg's primary messages is that "technologies will solve any outstanding problems, so we don't need policy," according to Grubb. "This seems more misguided and more dangerous than the [environmental] Litany that Lomborg's attacks," he adds.
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