Through Green-Colored Glasses: Enviromentalism Reconsidered [Hardcover]

Wilfred Beckerman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 1996

A former member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution reveals the flaws in alarmist environmental movement arguments.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Focusing on the economics of environmental issues, the authors of these books emphasize the need for developing nations to become wealthier. In his sequel to In Defense of Economic Growth (1974), Beckerman considers such issues as finite resources, biodiversity, global warming, and sustainable development in light of global economics. Rather than a single conflict concerning economic growth vs. the environment, he concludes that there are three conflicts: differing claims on an abundance of resources, the interests of different countries, and conflicting interests of different generations. The author's presentation of his case varies from strong, well reasoned, and easy to follow to sarcastic and trivial. Although he has some important points to make, his tone may at times alienate many readers. Dunn and Kinney's presentation is more balanced, with a generally alternative and more optimistic view, albeit one where the environment is completely under human control. The authors contrast the "liability culture" of environmentalists with the "asset culture" of economists, including themselves, in current approaches to environmental problems. The book opens by laying out current environmental "assets," then examines wealth and resources, and concludes with a section detailing their views on reaching a better environment. Given the wide range of areas, the necessarily brief presentations of the current "assets" are, in some cases, overly simplistic. The information presented is clearly documented, however, and the main points of each section are neatly summarized. For academic collections.?Jeanne Davidson, Oregon State Univ. Lib., Corvallis
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Cato Institute (September 24, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882577353
• ISBN-13: 978-1882577354
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,562,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars We should not be taken for a ride by the environmentalists, August 26, 1998

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This review is from: Through Green-Colored Glasses: Enviromentalism Reconsidered (Hardcover)

Through Green-Colored Glasses: Environmentalism Reconsidered

Wilfred Beckerman

"We should not be taken for a ride by the environmentalist movement's predictions that we are one the verge of environmental catastrophe," writes Wilfred Beckerman in the Cato Institute book, Through Green-Colored Glasses: Environmentalism Reconsidered.

Beckerman, an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and a former member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, has written this volume as a sequel to his widely acclaimed In Defense of Economic Growth, which originally appeared in 1974. Like its predecessor, Through Green-Colored Glasses, which was published in England last year under the title Small Is Stupid: Blowing the Whistle on the Greens, has garnered significant praise. The Economist stated that its "arguments are piercing" and Nature remarked, "Environmentalists tempted to ignore Wilfred Beckerman's latest book better think again. . . . Beckerman has written a thoughtful book as well as an entertaining one."

He explodes a number of myths currently advanced by radical environmentalists, including the assertion that natural resource depletion is imminent and the never-ending claims regarding global warming. He contrasts those supposed "threats" to the environment with the very real ecological problems that face Third World countries and concludes that economic growth is the only way those areas will be able to develop the technology and wealth needed to handle their problems. In addition, he insightfully discusses the question of what society owes future generations.

Beckerman believes the argument regarding natural resource depletion is "flawed in every respect." It is "at variance with the whole of historical experience, and it takes no account of the way that societies adapt to change in the demands and supplies of materials." Defending his position, he cites numerous examples of how the market has dealt with temporary resource shortages, such as the development of synthetic rubber during World War II and the creation of plastic as a replacement for various metals.

While acknowledging that global warming "has to be taken seriously," Beckerman maintains that it is "no cause for alarm or dramatic action." If dramatic action were taken, the effects on human welfare would be horrendous--even more horrendous perhaps than the effects of global warming itself. "With the global-warming problem," Beckerman writes, "society is faced with the choice between (i) accepting some remote and unquantifiable possibility of sharp climatic change in the longer run with possibly severe economic effects and (ii) certain economic and social catastrophe if draconian policies are adopted to avoid it."

The ecological problems of the Third World, Beckerman contends, are a direct result of the low level of economic development those countries have achieved. They simply have not produced the technology necessary for environmental protection, nor have they accumulated the wealth to buy it from abroad. And to do either one, they must first industrialize and grow--paradoxically, the exact thing that many Western environmentalists lament. He writes, "The best--and no doubt the only--route by which these countries can overcome their appalling environmental problems is to become richer."

One of the most vexing philosophical problems facing those who write on the environment is what, if any, moral obligations society has toward future generations. Is it necessary, for example, to leave the environment completely unaltered, or even approximately so, as many environmentalists argue? Beckerman contends that such a proposition is overly simplistic and narrow in focus. While it is conceivable that we could leave posterity a relatively unchanged environment, doing so would be too costly, not only to us, but to future generations as well.

Beckerman leaves the reader with the following thought: "Above all, we should not be panicked into the sort of drastic action urged on us by many environmental activists. . . . In short, the message of this book is that we have time to think. What is needed is the will to do so."

"Environmentalists tempted to ignore Wilfred Beckerman's latest book had better think again...Beckerman has written a thoughtful book as well as an entertaing one." -Nature

1996/230pp./$19.95 cloth ISBN: 1-882577-36-2 /$10.95 paper ISBN 1-882577-36-1