It's not the end of the world

Al Gore's film about climate change is out now in the UK. The leftwing environmental-skeptic Bjorn Lomborg says in response that It's not the end of the world and that Gore's apocalyptic claims are highly misleading. Lomborg is no climate change denier, but he disagrees with fatalist claims that global warming will be catastrophic and that addressing the change should be society's top priority. I think it's important to have an open mind about the whole debate, especially since so much of it is unknown at this stage. But I'm certainly more sympathetic to Lomborg's case than I am to Gore's. The most important point in the piece is this: 'According to UN estimates, for $75 billion a year - half the cost of implementing the Kyoto Protocol - we could provide clean drinking water, sanitation, basic health care, and education to every single human being on Earth.' The response to Lomborg's article will be interesting.