Science Quote by Bjorn Lomborg

Lomborg opens with a calculated compliment that doubles as a containment strategy. By praising Greenpeace as a healthy feature of a “pluralistic society,” he frames environmental activism as one voice among many rather than a moral referee. The move is rhetorically tidy: he gets to sound tolerant, even pro-environment, while quietly demoting Greenpeace from truth-teller to interest group.

The phrase “point out all the problems” is doing heavy lifting. It recasts Greenpeace’s work as essentially diagnostic and selectively alarm-focused: spotlighting risks, worst cases, visible harms. That characterization invites the reader to feel both gratitude and fatigue. Yes, watchdogs are useful; no, watchdogs shouldn’t run the house.

Then comes the pivot: “not presenting a full and rounded view.” This is the key to Lomborg’s broader public persona as the data-minded contrarian who argues that environmental debates are distorted by catastrophe narratives and poorly prioritized spending. He’s not denying problems; he’s contesting framing, weighting, and trade-offs. The subtext is: activists are incentivized to dramatize, scientists and policymakers should optimize.

Context matters. Lomborg rose to prominence in an era when climate politics hardened into camps, and NGOs became central storytellers in a media economy that rewards urgency. His “rounded view” signals cost-benefit analysis, probabilistic thinking, and attention to opportunity costs (what else money could do). It also sidesteps a thorny point: Greenpeace’s influence comes precisely from moral clarity and narrative force, not balance. Lomborg’s line is an appeal to moderation that functions as critique: thank them for the warning siren, but don’t mistake the siren for the map.