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A Cool Look at Global Warming
by Nigel Lawson
In the 1960s we were warned that the population explosion would lead to mass global starvation. In the 1970s we were warned that the planet was running out of natural resources and that world economic growth would grind to a halt within our lifetimes. When the planet's temperature, which had been gently rising for some 400 years, appeared to be falling again, scientists warned us that we were facing the disaster of a new ice age. In the past year, sensational warnings about climate change have dominated the headlines as we are told that global warming will have disastrous consequences in the very near future unless we take drastic measures now.
In this cautious and reasoned treatise on an issue that effects each and every one of us, former Energy Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Margaret Thatcher government years, Nigel Lawson, argues that it is time to take a cooler look at global warming. Lawson, father of famed cookbook author, looks at the facts behind the headlines and explains that science is only part of the story. For governments to make informed decisions about the path ahead they must listen to economists as well as scientists, utilizing economic forecasting to assess the likely evolution of the world economy, and even more urgently, economic analysis: what is the most cost-effective way of tackling this issue? We also need an understanding of exactly what measures are politically realistic on a global scale.
At a time when politicians and the media are stirring up public and political hysteria on the subject of climate change, Lawson has written a timely disquisition urging us to take into account all the facts in order to deal with the threat of global warming.
"The conservative (and Conservative) author's contrarian synthesis of political thinking and economic analysis is notably well argued and well written-and sure to raise the hackles of those on the other side of the issue." - Publishers Weekly
"Climate change is a highly complex global problem, and one plagued by major uncertainties. .... So it is important to keep testing the consensus view .... To this extent, Nigel Lawson's short book is to be welcomed. Along with the polemics, he makes some sensible points. For example, he is right to raise the alarm about the impact of biofuels on food prices, and about the huge costs and inefficiencies of imposing arbitrary targets for the production of renewable energy. He is right to warn about the dangers of trade protectionism that could result from imposing trade barriers against countries that do not cut their greenhouse gas emissions. And he is right to scoff at those who claim that unusual weather conditions in recent years represent clear evidence that disaster is on the way. ... But when it comes to the big picture, he is very likely to be wrong." - The Guardian (UK)
"Although this book promises to be a break from orthodoxy on global warming, it needlessly cedes crucial high ground at the outset, which makes this essay less of a tilt at convention than one might have hoped." - The Times (UK)
"In truth, pugilists on both side of the argument need to recognise that while expertise is always paramount, it is not out of place for other leading public figures to pose intelligent questions. After all, scientists and activists are demanding a political, not an academic, response to their findings. In this short and tightly argued book, Nigel Lawson successfully unravels some of the lazy assumptions upon which the current debate has been framed." - The Spectator (UK)
"Once an idea has become the conventional wisdom, even if it is broadly right, intellectual sloppiness can easily slip in. Nigel Lawson has provided a valuable antidote to the sloppiness surrounding climate change. This short book forces a rethink not only of some of the more alarmist predictions of global warming theory, but also of the fundamental underpinnings of the theory itself." - The Daily Mail (UK)
This information about An Appeal to Reason was first featured
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First published in the UK in May 2008.
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