Lomborg on global warming

From the Authors@Google series comes this video of Bjorn Lomborg talking about the costs and benefits of different ways of dealing with global warming. Lomborg asks why is it that the debate over climate change has stifled rational dialogue and killed meaningful dissent. He argues that many of the elaborate and expensive actions now being considered to deal with global warming will cost hundreds of billions of dollars and are often based on emotional rather than strictly scientific assumptions, and may very well have little impact on the world's temperature for hundreds of years. Lomborg asks about the trade-offs we face when dealing with the world's problems. Rather than starting with the most radical procedures to stop global warming, Lomborg argues that we should first focus our resources on more immediate concerns, such as fighting malaria and HIV/AIDS and assuring and maintaining a safe, fresh water supply—which can be addressed at a fraction of the cost and save millions of lives within our lifetime.