Lomborg on Kyoto...

Nice column by Steven Edwards in today's National Post.

"If we did Kyoto, we would spend about US$150-billion every year, but would end up only postponing global warming by about half a dozen years in 2100," said Mr. Lomborg, referring to world spending.

"On the other hand, the UN estimates that for about half that amount, we can fix all major basic problems right now -- providing clean drinking water, sanitation, basic health care and education to every human being on the planet."

He argues that rapidly improving the lot of individuals will even make some problems disappear.

"We can save 28 million people in Africa over the next 10 years from HIV/AIDS, and that means making them productive participants, which in turn makes African nations richer and better able to deal with other problems like deforestation," he said.

"After all, rich people don't cut down forests; almost all rich countries re-forest because they can afford to."