A debate in Prospect Magazine through correspondence between Bjorn Lomborg and me, published across August and September of 2001. My two letters to Bjorn Lomborg can be found below, and the whole debate accessed through Prospect. Dear Bjorn, Let me begin at a point on which we have much in […]
Ten Pinches of salt: a retort to Bjorn Lomborg
My briefing Ten Pinches of Salt published by the Green Alliance, in August 2001. Written as a reaction to the imminent publication of Bjorn Lomborg’s book The Sceptical Environmentalist this briefing offers ten ‘pinches of salt’ to bear in mind as you read the 352 pages and 2,930 footnotes. I explore […]
How long have we got?
Published in the New Statesman, on 16th July 2001. The environment ministers and officials who gather in Bonn from 16-27 July for the resumed negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol will not settle the fate of the earth. The more important discussions, where the political heavy lifting will be done, will […]
Prepare for middle-class outrage
Published in the New Statesman, on 25th June 2001. At midday on the day after the election, Jack Straw was still talking to officials in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) about his impending arrival as secretary of state. By midnight, the department no longer existed […]
Life after death
Written for publication in June 2001. Climate change has much in common as an issue with nuclear disarmament and trade liberalisation. All three issues go to the heart of the prospects for human well being; all combine ferocious technical complexity with the capacity to arouse deep political passions: all require […]
Bush makes things hot for Americans
Published in the New Statesman, on 26th March 2001. This month, President Bush declared war on the world’s efforts to tackle the increasingly urgent problem of climate change. Writing to Senator Chuck Hagel, a longtime leading wrecker of US climate change initiatives, Bush not only promised not to impose mandatory […]