I bought Lomborg's book after reading a blistering review of it in one of the geoscience journals. It's been awhile since I read the book or the review -- and while I can't remember the exact details of this particular debate -- at least in this instance I'd have to say Lomborg was way, way off base. If the parts of his book dealing with things I know about where that far off I can only assume his "research" in those areas I know nothing about might be pretty far out, too. Based on reviews I've read, this seems to be true.
IMHO, you'll do better talking to and reading about what real scientist think about issues rather than reading op-ed pieces in the popular press like those mentioned above.
OTOH, I have to agree that environmental science has a lot of crackpots -- on both sides -- and "facts" are often, if not routinely, stretched to the breaking point to fit a particular argument. To a public accustomed to "Reality TV" and Jerry Springer this seems to be an acceptable practice. But I digress...
(Check out Lawrence Krauss' essay "Scientific Ignorance as a Way of Life " that was presented at an AAAS meeting in Feb. 2003 -- do a google search -- he has the lecture in MP3 format available for download)
