- Call for scientists, citizens and organizations to support Lomborg by publishing his reply.
Scientific American, after running an 11-page editorial in January attacking Bjorn Lomborg's book "The Skeptical Environmentalist", has threatened to sue the Danish scholar because he defended himself on his own Internet site. Fearing legal action from such a large institution (2.3 million readers) Lomborg took the offending copy off his site (), thus gutting the effectiveness of his rebuttal. Scientific American refused to give him any space to reply in the January edition and say they will give him one page in a future edition.
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, now President of Greenspirit, has published the original rebuttal on his own site, , and is calling on all people and organizations that want an open airing of Lomborg's ideas to publish the rebuttal on their own sites and to distribute it widely.
"This is a blatant attempt by Scientific American to stifle free debate and to avoid the embarrassment they deserve after publishing a personal attack in the guise of a science editorial," said Moore. "Anyone who reads Lomborg's reply will see that it is thoughtful and thorough, and that Scientific American is guilty of perpetuating bad science in the name of defending it."
In an e-mail to Moore, Executive Editor Mariette DiChristina states "This is an infringement of our copyright and interferes with our business of selling the article", referring to the fact that Lomborg included the text of the Scientific American article in his reply. Moore responds, "It is ridiculous for Scientific American to suggest that Bjorn Lomborg's website will compete with the January edition of their magazine which is already off the newsstands. If anything it will arouse interest in their publication. Therefore I have concluded that their motivation is political, to stifle debate and to defend their support for environmental extremists who preach that the world is coming to an end even though the facts do not support such a pessimistic view."
Lomborg's original rebuttal can be viewed at
"I hope that there will be a massive response to this repressive action by Scientific American," said Moore. "Science is supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas and the application of intellectual rigor to debate. Scientific American is behaving in a manner that is both unscientific and un-American."
Moore is urging everyone who publishes the rebuttal or distributes it to e-mail him at so he can publish a list of people who support Lomborg's right to defend his views. "You don't have to be in favor of every word Lomborg says to support his right to state his opinion," said Moore. "Lomborg is a breath of fresh air in opening up the discussion of the environment and how we can improve it."
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