Lomborg-errors:
"Cool it!"
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Extreme weather, extreme hype | |
Home Cool it |
"Cool it!", chapter 3: Global warming: Our many
worries
Extreme weather, extreme hype, pages
72 - 81
HURRICANES: |
Chris Mooney criticises Lomborg´s chapter on hurricanes here.
Lomborg refers on p. 73-74 to a summary
statement on tropical cyclones and
climate change issued by the World Meteorological Organization in
November 2006. This summary statement gives a fairly balanced
overview of what we know and what we don´t know. This is stated
in 10 clearly formulated points. But Lomborg cites only the first three
of
these points - which happen to fit his overall agenda - and
leaves out those that do not fit him. Most importantly, he omits
the point stating that scientists agree that we should expect a
rise in peak wind-speed as the sea surface warms. Instead, he
focuses on the point stating that "The recent increase in
societal impact from tropical cyclones has been largely caused by
rising concentrations of population and infrastructure in coastal
regions." Few scientists would oppose against this
statement, but Lomborg claims that this is all there is to it -
as if we had to choose whether damages were due to denser
infrastructure or to
increasing wind speeds, instead of admitting
that both factors contribute in tandem, and that the intensity of
cyclones is expected to rise in the future, wherefore the
necessary protective measures will be ever more costly -
especially as there is at the same time a rising of sea level.
On page 75-76 Lomborg cites a study on what hurricane damages would
have been if the hurricanes had hit the United States as it is today,
with today´s population and wealth. His reference for this is
Pielke et al. 2007. This study has come up with the following
estimates of such hypothetical damages: The Galveston hurricane in
1900: $72 - 78 bn; the Great Miami hurricane in 1926: $140 - 157 bn;
and Katrina in 2005: $81 bn. Thus, using the figures from
Lomborg´s own source, Katrina comes second, not third. And
contrary to the impression given in the notes, the same is true for the
number of deaths: The Galveston hurricane in 1900: 8,000 dead; the
Great Miami hurricane in 1926: 373 - 800 dead; and Katrina in 2005:
1,200 - 1,300 dead. Here again, Katrina ranges second.
The economic damages from Katrina are estimated at more than $100 bn
by the federal organisation NOAA.