Bjorn Lomborg

A spell of extremely hot weather has hit Europe this month, bringing with it a raft of apocalyptic headlines. Named Charon, after the boatman in Greek mythology who navigated the river Styx into Hades, the heatwave has immediately been linked to climate change and, by extension, humanity’s faltering attempts to combat it.

Bjørn Lomborg is the former director of the Danish government’s Environmental Assessment Institute in Copenhagen, as well as an author widely known for his bestselling book The Skeptical Environmentalist, which challenged the pessimism of climate change orthodoxy. 

UnHerd

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers meets Bjørn Lomborg

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A spell of extremely hot weather has hit Europe this month, bringing with it a raft of apocalyptic headlines. Named Charon, after the boatman in Greek mythology who navigated the river Styx into Hades, the heatwave has immediately been linked to climate change and, by extension, humanity’s faltering attempts to combat it.

Bjørn Lomborg is the former director of the Danish government’s Environmental Assessment Institute in Copenhagen, as well as an author widely known for his bestselling book The Skeptical Environmentalist, which challenged the pessimism of climate change orthodoxy. 

He spoke to UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers this week to argue that, in the short to medium term at least, rising temperatures actually provide humanity with positive opportunities, and can save rather than eradicate lives.

// TIMECODES //

00:00 – 01:00 – Introduction

01:00 – 01:57 – The dangers of a heatwave

01:57 – 06:26 – Discussing the Lancet study

06:26 – 10:20 – The dangers of Europe heating up

10:20 – 13:42 – What about outside of Europe?

13:42 – 19:14 – What should we be doing about this?

19:14 – 19:36 – Concluding thoughts