Economics has been called the dismal science. But, in modern times at least, it has tended to be environmentalists rather than economists who have put forward a dismal view of the world. Beginning with a sceptical view of his work, I discovered that the late American economist Julian Simon was right. As the first chapter of my book says, things are getting better. Simon emphasised what became a crucial message of The Skeptical Environmentalist: mythmaking prevents us from using our judgment wisely. We will panic and fail to prioritise if we believe that the world is falling apart. If people worry too much about the small problems, they will not worry enough about the big ones. There is only one pot of money, and it must be spent wisely. We need to concentrate on the facts. The myths about the environment have convinced many people that we are headed in the wrong direction. I believed them before I wrote The Skeptical Environmentalist. Then I realised that these myths were like holding a gun to our heads, stopping us from being able to prioritise. The analogy is with a street criminal pointing a gun at you and demanding your money. You would not pause and wonder whether you would prefer to buy a new toaster; you would simply hand over the money.