Product Description

Includes essays by Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and other noted scientists and scholars
The modern environmental movement began with the publication of three seminal works, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, and the Club of Rome's The Limits to Growth. These books' dismal visions of a poisoned, over-populated, resource-depleted world spiraling down toward environmental collapse are today's conventional wisdom. And every year we hear about new "conclusive" reports from special interest groups claiming that our atmosphere's temperatures are soaring, our air and water are more polluted, our cities are more crowded, and our global food supply is more precarious than ever before. However, according to a number of leading scientists from around the world, members of the environmental movement are guilty of twisting—sometimes manufacturing—the facts in an effort to frighten people into joining their cause.
In this eye-opening book, some of the most respected researchers in the country explode the myths behind much of the doom and gloom of today's environmental movement. You will discover how the hysteria about global warming, overpopulation, mass extinctions, imminent famines, biotechnology, energy shortages, and more are grounded not in reason but in false science and a fear of progress. When placed beside the overwhelming facts, some of the most pervasive eco-myths crumble, including:
Myth:
Antarctica is melting due to global warming—threatening to raise ocean levels
Fact:
Antarctica has been cooling—and its glaciers thickening—for the past 30 years
Myth:
The global population is growing faster than our ability to produce food
Fact:
Global fertility rates are falling dramatically, and with advanced technology, farmers are producing more food using fewer resources than ever before
Myth:
Solar- and wind-powered generators are a renewable, efficient, and less intrusive alternative to gas-, oil-, and coal-burning generators
Fact:
Global fossil fuel supplies are in no near-term danger of being depleted, and a single 555-megawatt natural gas power plant produces more electricity than 13,000 windmills
Myth:
Modern pesticides and fertilizers are increasing the rates of cancer in humans
Fact:
No study has ever shown that anyone has developed cancer from the legal application of pesticides, and environmental pollution accounts for at most 2 percent of all cancer cases versus 30 percent caused by tobacco use
And many more
Ultimately, this book shows that uniting much of the environmental movement is an agenda that is not so much anti-pollution as it is anti-human. Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths lays out the true state of the planet, which, as you'll discover, is more healthy, vibrant, and clean than ideologically motivated environmentalists want you to believe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #555186 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-15
• Released on: 2002-09-24
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
Praise for Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths
"Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths challenges the tired orthodoxies of ideological environmentalism. It's refreshing to read that there is no environmental 'cancer epidemic,' that climatologist John Christy says there is no imminent global warming catastrophe, and that Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug predicts that we will be able to feed 10 billion people using less land. If market forces are unleashed, even drinking water can last forever. I just wish the environmentalists would read Bailey's book." ? John Stossel, ABC News 20/20
"Facts are stubborn things, and Ronald Bailey has once again assembled the best environmental fact-checkers in the business to explode the common misconceptions and distortions about the real state of our planet." ? Steven Hayward, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute, and author of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators
"A stunning riposte to the eco-alarmists. Beyond debunking environmentalist scare mongering, Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths is the clearest explanation in print of the promise that eco-friendly technology offers to the human race. A must read for anyone who wants to know how we can build a healthy world environment for our children and grandchildren." ? Denis Dutton, editor of Arts & Letters Daily on the Web and professor, University of Canterbury, New Zealand -- Review

Review
Praise for Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths
"Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths challenges the tired orthodoxies of ideological environmentalism. It's refreshing to read that there is no environmental 'cancer epidemic,' that climatologist John Christy says there is no imminent global warming catastrophe, and that Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug predicts that we will be able to feed 10 billion people using less land. If market forces are unleashed, even drinking water can last forever. I just wish the environmentalists would read Bailey's book." — John Stossel, ABC News 20/20
"Facts are stubborn things, and Ronald Bailey has once again assembled the best environmental fact-checkers in the business to explode the common misconceptions and distortions about the real state of our planet." — Steven Hayward, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute, and author of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators
"A stunning riposte to the eco-alarmists. Beyond debunking environmentalist scare mongering, Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths is the clearest explanation in print of the promise that eco-friendly technology offers to the human race. A must read for anyone who wants to know how we can build a healthy world environment for our children and grandchildren." — Denis Dutton, editor of Arts & Letters Daily on the Web and professor, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

From the Inside Flap
Includes essays by Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and other noted scientists and scholars
The modern environmental movement began with the publication of three seminal works, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, and the Club of Rome's The Limits to Growth. These books' dismal visions of a poisoned, over-populated, resource-depleted world spiraling down toward environmental collapse are today's conventional wisdom. And every year we hear about new "conclusive" reports from special interest groups claiming that our atmosphere's temperatures are soaring, our air and water are more polluted, our cities are more crowded, and our global food supply is more precarious than ever before. However, according to a number of leading scientists from around the world, members of the environmental movement are guilty of twisting—sometimes manufacturing—the facts in an effort to frighten people into joining their cause.
In this eye-opening book, some of the most respected researchers in the country explode the myths behind much of the doom and gloom of today's environmental movement. You will discover how the hysteria about global warming, overpopulation, mass extinctions, imminent famines, biotechnology, energy shortages, and more are grounded not in reason but in false science and a fear of progress. When placed beside the overwhelming facts, some of the most pervasive eco-myths crumble, including:
Myth:
Antarctica is melting due to global warming—threatening to raise ocean levels
Fact:
Antarctica has been cooling—and its glaciers thickening—for the past 30 years
Myth:
The global population is growing faster than our ability to produce food
Fact:
Global fertility rates are falling dramatically, and with advanced technology, farmers are producing more food using fewer resources than ever before
Myth:
Solar- and wind-powered generators are a renewable, efficient, and less intrusive alternative to gas-, oil-, and coal-burning generators
Fact:
Global fossil fuel supplies are in no near-term danger of being depleted, and a single 555-megawatt natural gas power plant produces more electricity than 13,000 windmills
Myth:
Modern pesticides and fertilizers are increasing the rates of cancer in humans
Fact:
No study has ever shown that anyone has developed cancer from the legal application of pesticides, and environmental pollution accounts for at most 2 percent of all cancer cases versus 30 percent caused by tobacco use
And many more
Ultimately, this book shows that uniting much of the environmental movement is an agenda that is not so much anti-pollution as it is anti-human. Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths lays out the true state of the planet, which, as you'll discover, is more healthy, vibrant, and clean than ideologically motivated environmentalists want you to believe.

Customer Reviews

A Good Response from the 'Other Side'
I have an open mind about all the subjects dealt with in this book and therefore found reading it very worthwile. Yes, the authors are from what one could call the 'other side' as they make no bones about directly attacking what the authors call 'ideological environmentalism'. However, the book is well written given the number of authors involved and clearly presents their arguments and information.

The book covers such topics as global warming, sustainable development, biotechnology, chemicals/pollutants and the environment, population, et. al. that should be of interest to everyone.

The strength of the book is the attempt to bring scientific research and data to bear on these important and sensitive issues and the policies that exist or that have been promoted to deal with them. This approach is very much needed and the authors should be commended for their work, regardless of where you might stand on any of the issues. We need reasoned debate.

The authors do engage in some of their own political poking at those they don't agree with and do resort to the straw man approach using 40 year old books and articles as the straw man and they do also use statistics in ways ranging from acceptable to somewhat dubious that present their case in the strongest possible light. They do ignore certain issues such as biodiversity where positive data (their obvious preference) is not available to support their strong optimism that markets and science have and will benefit humanity and solve all its problems. However, this political and economic perspective is to be expected from the American Enterprise Institute and is not presented in a too polemical tone.

Overall this book is comprehensive in its coverage, informative, well referenced and thought provoking, and therefore I can highly recommend it for those seriously and dispassionately interested in understanding these issues better.

I do not agree with certain of their analyses or use of statistics or all of their underlying philosophy but I commend them again for providing a sane and reasoned book that gives me the opportunity to study, analyse, raise questions, search references and become better informed.

Lets not shoot all the messengers or we can't discuss anything serious anymore.

I actually READ the book!
Having actually read the book, unlike most of the reviewers in this list that have not cracked its covers or turned a single page, I think that my review should carry some weight.

First, global warming is almost certainly due to macroenvironmental factors that are not due to human activity. This is widely documented from everything from studies of glacial gase entrapment to ocean sediments.

Second, wide variations in climatic conditions are the NORM. Thus the current period of global warming, that has continued since the Little Ice Age several hundreds years ago (and centuries before CO2 emissions from human activity were a factor) can not be thought of as a radical departure from normal climatic change.

Third, Carl Sagan wrote of a "baloney detector" that we should use when evaluating science. One of the surest signs of baloney is the "reducto ad hominum" argument. True, "only" two PHDs were involved in this book (there are countless books by a SINGLE PHD that are not attacked in this manner) but that is not the fault of the book. Also true, the book is sponsored by a pro-development group, but there are countless books by environmental groups that are not debased solely by that connection. Finally, most of the science is fully footnoted and you are able to check their conclusions. This is not true of most of the environmental movements polemics.

On the whole the book is readable and does not insult a laymans intelligence. The sources and bibliography are valuable for those that wish to take an honest inquiry further.

I read it too
I read this book with an open mind. Like most people I have been brainwashed over the years about global warming and the environmental crisis. This book was quite the eye opener.
I wish I coujld have given it 5 stars to combat all the negative reviews by those who have never even seen a copy, but I thought "The Satanic Gasses" gave a better perspective on the psuedoscience surrounding the issue.
This is better if you are looking for some good talking points on the issue.
The book is well referenced and no one should have any trouble checking out the sources. I felt the book let enough to your own imagination where the reader could form their own opinions.
It is an easy read without too many deep technical discussions to spare those poor unfortunate victims of public education from having to think too hard. But then most of them would never be caught dead reading a book like his.