Intelligence Squared US

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009

MAJOR REDUCTIONS IN CARBON EMISSIONS ARE NOT WORTH THE MONEY

About This Debate

Debate description coming soon.

The Panel

For The Motion

  • Peter Huber
    Peter Huber
    FOR THE MOTION
    Peter Huber
    most recent book is The Bottomless Well (2005), co-authored with Mark P. Mills. He is a partner of the Washington, D.C. law firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans, and Figel, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a columnist for Forbes. Huber served as an assistant and later associate professor at MIT for six years, and clerked for then Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Bjorn Lomborg
    Bjorn Lomborg
    FOR THE MOTION
    Bjorn Lomborg
    is the author of the bestsellers Cool It and The Skeptical Environmentalist. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2004, one of the "50 people who could save the planet" by the UK Guardian in 2008, one of the world's 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire in 2008. He has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. He is presently an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, and in 2004 he started the Copenhagen Consensus, a conference of top economists who come together to prioritize the best solutions for the world's greatest challenges.
  • Philip Stott
    Philip Stott
    FOR THE MOTION
    Philip Stott
    is an Emeritus Professor and biogeographer from the University of London, UK. Although a scientist, for the past ten years he has also employed modern techniques of deconstruction to grand environmental narratives, like “global warming.” Stott was editor of the internationally-important Journal of Biogeography for 18 years. He broadcasts widely on TV and radio, and writes regularly on environmental issues for The Times of London, among other publications.

Against The Motion

  • L. Hunter Lovins
    L. Hunter Lovins
    AGAINST THE MOTION
    L. Hunter Lovins
    is president of Natural Capitalism Solutions. Natural Capitalism creates practical tools and strategies enabling companies, communities and countries to increase prosperity and quality of life. Lovins consults for industries and governments globally, advising the Energy Minister of Afghanistan, briefing senior management of Wal-Mart, and writing the Economic Case for Climate Protection. Named 2008 Sustainability Pioneer and Time magazine Millennium Hero for the Planet. Her first climate book, Least Cost Energy: Solving the CO2 Problem was published in 1981.
  • Oliver Tickell
    Oliver Tickell
    AGAINST THE MOTION
    Oliver Tickell
    is the author of Kyoto2 (2008) in which he sets out a novel international framework for the control of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which promises to be effective, efficient and equitable—in contrast to the existing Kyoto Protocol and its failing flexibility mechanisms. Tickell’s extensive environmental knowledge and understanding was acquired as a journalist writing on environmental issues over a career going back some 20 years. He has written for all the UK's broadsheet newspaper titles and numerous magazines including New Scientist, the Ecologist and BBC Wildlife. He also spent a period as dedicated environment correspondent for the Independent.
  • Adam Werbach
    Adam Werbach
    AGAINST THE MOTION
    Adam Werbach
    , global chief executive officer at Saatchi & Saatchi S, is regarded as one of the world’s premier experts in sustainability. At age 23, he was elected as the youngest president ever of the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest environmental organization in the United States . In 1998, he founded sustainability agency, Act Now, to engage the corporate and media world in social, environmental, cultural and economic change. After ten successful years, Act Now merged with global ideas company Saatchi & Saatchi to form Saatchi & Saatchi S, the world’s largest sustainability agency. Werbach serves on the Advisory Board for the National Academy of Sciences, Climate Change Communications.

Moderator

John Donovan is a correspondent for ABC News Nightline. He has served as ABC White House Correspondent, along with postings in Moscow, London, Jerusalem and Amman.

Poll Results

Pre-Debate Poll Results
16% For | 50% Against | 35%

Post Debate Poll Results
42% For | 48% Against | 10%

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