INFOTERRA: News: Danish Panel Repudiates Lomborg, the Unbelievable Skeptic
Much as I respect the New York times, I went looking for something more
substantial than the story, appended below. I found what may be the
report in question, released by the Danish Committees on Scientific
Dishonesty, at:
http://www.forsk.dk/uvvu/nyt/udtaldebat/bl_decision.htm
More on the Danish Research Agency can be found at:
http://www.forsk.dk/eng/index.htm
I do think Lomborg's work totters on its own lack of merit, and normally
would not consider the matter worth debating any more than it already has
been. But engagement with the world we live in imposes ts own pressures,
and the fact of the matter is, Dr. Lomborg is very much a player--the
Danish Government having made him director of the Danish Institute for
Environmental Assessment.
Incidentally, I met Dr. Lomborg when he made a presentation touting his
book, at UCLA. I found him rather personable. If it were not for the
fact that he asked his audience to believe that he was a deeply committed
enrironmentalist, a Greenpeace member, dragged from the throes of his
beliefs by the hard factuality of his research findings, bewildered at the
firestorm of opposition he found unleashed upon him, an environmentalist,
I might even have wanted to engage him in conversation.
Ashwani
Vasishth vasishth@usc.edu
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~vasishth
* * *
Environment and Science: Danes Rebuke a 'Skeptic'
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
A branch of the Danish Research Agency has concluded that Prof. Bjorn
Lomborg, an author whose upbeat analysis of environmental trends has been
embraced by conservatives, displayed "scientific dishonesty" in his
popular book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist."
Professor Lomborg, who has a doctorate in political science and teaches
statistics at the University of Aarhus, has portrayed the book as an
unbiased scientific refutation of dire pronouncements by environmental
groups. But it has been attacked as deeply flawed by many environmental
scientists since its publication in English in 2001 by Cambridge
University Press.
Many experts have said that environmental conditions, in most cases, are
not nearly as good as Professor Lomborg portrays them, but also not nearly
as bad as some environmental groups and scientists have said.
The Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty, after a six-month review
following several complaints filed by scientists, issued a 17-page report
yesterday concluding that the book displayed "systematic one-sidedness."
"Objectively speaking," the committees found, "the publication of the work
under consideration is deemed to fall within the concept of scientific
dishonesty," as defined by Danish rules for scientific integrity.
But because Dr. Lomborg was not found grossly negligent, he could not be
found formally to have been scientifically dishonest, the report said.
The committee said it found no evidence that Professor Lomborg
deliberately tried to mislead readers, which would have been a graver
issue, and settled on a relatively mild rebuke, concluding, "The
publication is deemed clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific
practice."
The committees, divisions of the Danish Research Agency, are composed of a
variety of scientists and headed by a judge from the Danish High Court.
In a telephone interview, Professor Lomborg, 38, defended the book and
challenged the committees to come up with specific examples of errors or
bias.
"You can't say I'm scientifically dishonest or in breach of good
scientific conduct unless you point the finger and say this is the smoking
gun," he said. "It's like saying you committed murder but we won't tell
you who you killed. It's impossible for me to defend myself."
He said the committees' conclusion could get him fired from his new
position as director of the Danish Institute for Environmental Assessment,
in which he reviews the effectiveness of government spending on
environmental programs. Government officials, however, told Danish news
organizations that the criticism of the book did not jeopardize Professor
Lomborg's job.
Cambridge University Press has also been criticized by scientists for
publishing the book. Officials at the publishing house declined to comment
on the findings, saying they had not had a chance to read them.
The report did not cite specific examples, but asserted that the book -
although presented in the style of a scientific treatise, with copious
footnotes and diagrams - was actually "a provocative debate-generating
paper."
It extensively cited a long critique of Professor Lomborg's book that was
published in Scientific American last year. Professor Lomborg and his
supporters said that critique was itself biased and written by scientists
who have long portrayed the environment as dangerously degraded.
The book - a dense review of data on forests, climate change, food
supplies, population growth and other issues - has not been a runaway best
seller but has been widely cited by conservative groups, commentators and
elected officials who oppose strict environmental regulations.
At the same time, the book posed a sharp challenge to environmental groups
and many scientists who have long spoken of looming ecological and
climatic catastrophes that have yet to materialize.
"The environment is a field where, when people do some light calculations
like Lomborg did, it's easy to argue for a happy-times kind of
conclusion," said Dr. Peter H. Raven, the director of the Missouri
Botanical Garden and president of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
But such findings should not be portrayed as science, he said, adding,
"This is a just outcome that ought to bring his credibility to a halt
except for those who desperately want to believe what he says."
* * *
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed, without profit, for research and educational purposes
only. ***
* * *
PANEL: SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST PERVERTED MESSAGE
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, January 8, 2003 (ENS) - An official Danish scientific
ethics panel has ruled that Bjorn Lomborg "perverted the scientific
message" in his book "The Sceptical Environmentalist," which disputes the
seriousness of many key environmental problems. The decision is an
embarrassment for the Danish government, which last year installed Lomborg
as head of a new Environmental Assessment Institute (IMV).
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2003/2003-01-08-03.asp
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