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False Alarm

How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet

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False Alarm

By: Bjorn Lomborg
Narrated by: Jim Seybert
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About this listen

 An “essential” (Times UK) and “meticulously researched” (Forbes) book by “the skeptical environmentalist” argues that panic over climate change is causing more harm than good
Hurricanes batter our coasts. Wildfires rage across the American West. Glaciers collapse in the Arctic. Politicians, activists, and the media espouse a common message: climate change is destroying the planet, and we must take drastic action immediately to stop it. Children panic about their future, and adults wonder if it is even ethical to bring new life into the world.

Enough, argues bestselling author Bjorn Lomborg. Climate change is real, but it’s not the apocalyptic threat that we’ve been told it is. Projections of Earth’s imminent demise are based on bad science and even worse economics. In panic, world leaders have committed to wildly expensive but largely ineffective policies that hamper growth and crowd out more pressing investments in human capital, from immunization to education. In a new epilogue, Lomborg brings the story up to date, showing the ineffective and costly environmental policies of the Biden administration.

False Alarm will convince you that everything you think about climate change is wrong. It points the way toward making the world a vastly better, if slightly warmer, place for us all. Economics Environment Environmental Economics Politics & Government Science Solar System Pollution Climate Change Science

Critic Reviews

"Lomborg does not lack solutions. In False Alarm, he advocates a range of cost-benefit tested policies to address both climate change and global poverty.... Lomborg does a service in calling out the environmental alarmism and hysteria that obscure environmental debates rather than illuminate them."—National Review
"Meticulously researched, and well worth a read."—Forbes
"An important book. Mr. Lomborg is a long-standing environmentalist regarded as a heretic by hardliners in the movement because he is an optimist who says that humanity is not doomed."—Iain Martin, The Times (UK)
"The best way to deal with global warming is to increase global prosperity.... The choice we face, Lomborg writes, is between a human future driven by fear and one driven by ingenuity. On that, he is exactly right."—The Bulwark
"Lomborg's most basic premise remains that there are better ways to alleviate human misery than spending taxpayer subsidies than on panic-driven, political non-solutions to a changing climate. Few would argue with that goal."—American Thinker
"Lomborg brands climate change warnings as alarmist, and argues that a massive reduction in fossil fuels would exacerbate global poverty, in this detailed account.... Lomborg is careful to back his cost-benefit analyses of climate policies with surveys and statistics."—Publishers Weekly
"[Lomborg] follows his previous critiques of climate change policy...with a hard-hitting analysis of failing strategies for addressing what he acknowledges is 'a real problem.'...A serious, debatable assessment of a controversial global issue."—Kirkus
"Bjorn Lomborg's new book offers a data-driven, human-centered antidote to the oft-apocalyptic discussion characterizing the effect of human activity on the global climate. Careful, compelling, and above all sensible and pragmatic."—Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life
"This is a very important and superbly argued book. Those who have been persuaded that climate change is not happening, and those who think catastrophe is imminent should both read it and know they can rely on Lomborg's meticulous analysis to put them right. The rest of us can be alarmed by his relentless revelation that the world is spending a fortune on making the plight of the poor and the state of the environment worse with foolish and expensive policies."—Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works
All stars
Most relevant
Some solid analysis however his acceptance without challenge of the CO2 being the cause of global warming and related is no longer a valid base. It’s clear nowadays that is fake news and the metrics used are doctored to control and continue the funding paid to groups like IPCC

A bit dated

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As a leftist gen zer I am constantly arguing about social and political issues. For the past couple years I have been arguing basically his point that climate change is real but the media’s cooption of the term and it’s use unscientifically only goes to increase anxiety for the future. I have found this to be a pretty even handed account of climate science and explanation of what has actually been said by mainstream scientists rather than doomsday rhetoric or climate change denial rhetoric that is so frequently seen on the left and right respectively. I especially liked the points about how the poor governance of certain places is a much greater threat to their populations medium and long term than climate change, this is often forgotten or carefully avoided when talking about the racist impact of climate change. Also the fact that natural disasters cannot be considered to be ‘caused’ by climate change, and that there is a certain bias in the way that leftist folks interpret natural disasters given that there has continued to be variety in the extremity of them and that there are many examples of worse natural disasters in history that we don’t call the product of climate change was well articulated. The point that people are living in more and more risky places such as coastal parts of the us is super key too. Yeah, anyway I think it is a really good book and quite helpful for me as a means to judge the most important issues to spend time talking about. I have not finished the book yet, so I don’t know if this will be covered, but ending barriers to migration, as well as having a negative income tax can aside have the additional impact as being a partial remedy for some of the worst impacted parts of the world affected by human induced climate change; but we will see.

Thank you so much for writing this book!

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If only there were more people listening to the science based facts about the effects of climate change, as outlined in this well written book the present and the future would be a lot better.

Science based not emotional rhetoric.

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it's refreshing to read about the real costs of climate change, yea the so called science is constantly debated but no one ever talks costs and what it will look like for our lives to really get there. it turns out some of the ideas to finding solutions have costs higher than what Im willing to bet most of the developed world won't accept.

Finally the real truth

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I was worried this book would be anti climate change but it's anything but. The author gives scientifically backed alternatives to the typical message spread by the media, and has the studies and figures to back it up. I wasn't all that interested in the topic before listening to this book, but I'm really glad that I did.

An alternative to the typical media spin

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A good discourse aimed at removing the heat from climate alarminism, including a practical approach to improving life for all

A balanced approach to climate change

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I enjoyed this book, i found it very informative and easy to follow.
In a world that thrives to dramatise everything and create fear where there is no need for fear, this book bring you back to reality.
Would very much recommend this book

A valid perspective

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I enjoyed how the author accepted that global temperatures will increase over time and how he was able to put into context a range of potential responses. I found it particularly enlightening to hear how the focus on CO2 reduction is not the only solution, but it is one of the most costly. I would highly recommend listening to this book if you are at all interested in a more balanced view on this topic.

Very informative

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this book is a good read for anyone on any side of the climate change debate.

a different side to the debate

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Today's media fixate on climate change, and promotes a unrealistic approaches to resolving what this book demonstrates is an important issue for humankind, but not our only problem. This group-think dominates the debate, and excludes much that this book reveals as competing issues of concern. The avalanche of numbers is daunting at times, and the listener needs access to the figures that are referred to throughout the dialogue. A picture is worth a thousand words.

A broader perspective on how to improve our world.

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