Je ne suis pas Charlie? Fransk regering fyrer TV meteorolog for at udgive bog som er kritisk overfor menneskabt global opvarming før klimamøde i Paris

RT
man, 02 nov 2015 13:31 UTC

En kendt fransk meteorolog har udsendt nyhederne om sin fyring på en video online, hvor han siger at han blev fyret for at skrive en bog som stiller sig kritisk overfor klimaforandring. Dette kommer blot få uger inden Paris er vært til FNs konference om det kontroversielle emne.

Philippe Verdier, som uden tvivl er Frankrigs mest populære meteorolog er forfatter til bogen 'Climat Investigation' (Klimaundersøgelsen), i hvilken han beskylder statsstøttede klimaforandringsvidenskabsmænd for at være blevet "manipuleret" og "politiseret". Han fortsætter videre med at anklage det internationale klimapanel (IPCC) for at have udgivet bevidst misledende data.

Verdier siger også at global opvarmning kunne blive positivt for Frankrig, give et boost til turismen, reducere energiregningerne og forbedre helbredet.

Meteorologen siger at han var inspireret til at skrive bogen efter at den franske udenrigsminister Laurent Fabius mødtes med TV meteorologer og bad dem om at fremhæve emner om klimaforandring i deres udsendelser.

Kommentar: Vi undskylder at denne artikel blot er delvis oversat fra
Je ne suis pas Charlie? French government fires TV weatherman for publishing book critical of man-made global warming ahead of COP21 in Paris

"I was horrified by this speech," Verdier told French magazine Les Inrockuptibles.

The book led to Verdier's suspension last month. He was put "on leave" on October 12 and summoned to a disciplinary hearing two weeks ago.

"My book 'Climate Investigation' was published one month ago. It got me banned from the air waves," the weatherman says in the online video.

The footage goes on to show the weatherman reading the letter in silence while a caption reads: "Philippe Verdier, journalist weatherman. Fired by France Televisions one month before COP 21 (UN conference on climate change)."

Referencing the UN climate change summit while speaking to RTL radio last month, Verdiers said he put himself "in the path of COP21, which is a bulldozer, and this is the result."

Verdier's supporters believe he has fallen victim to French President Francois Hollande's campaign to present a united front before the much-anticipated conference. The summit is scheduled to take place in Paris from November 30 to December 11.

More than 15,000 people have signed a petition in support of Verdier, including 10 opposition MPs. The politicians said he had "enriched the debate and helped to make democracy live."

Kommentar: This was actually reported in the UK Telegraph a couple of weeks ago, which concluded:

[Verdier] said he decided to write the book in June 2014 when Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, summoned the country's main weather presenters and urged them to mention "climate chaos" in their forecasts.

"I was horrified by this discourse," Mr Verdier told Les Inrockuptibles magazine. Eight days later, Mr Fabius appeared on the front cover of a magazine posing as a weatherman above the headline: "500 days to save the planet."

Mr Verdier said: "If a minister decides he is Mr Weatherman, then Mr Weatherman can also express himself on the subject in a lucid manner."

"What's shameful is this pressure placed on us to say that if we don't hurry, it'll be the apocalypse," he added, saying that "climate diplomacy" means leaders are seeking to force changes to suit their own political timetables.

According to L'Express magazine, unions at France Television called for Mr Verdier to be fired, but that Delphine Ernotte, the broadcaster's chief executive, initially said he should be allowed to stay "in the name of freedom of expression".

Indeed, whatever happened to freedom of expression in France? Aren't we all 'Charlie' now??

Fickle minds abound.

Anyway, while we support Monsieur Verdier's commendable stand against the global warming lie, we think there may be more to the French Foreign Minister's intervention than concern that everyone toe the party line ahead of the upcoming climate change conference in Paris.

With the rise in extreme weather events being noticed by ever more people, the authorities will come under increasing pressure to maintain the global warming narrative because - despite it being thoroughly shoddy - it at least provides a plausible narrative with which to explain the natural climate shift the planet is undergoing, and maintains the socio-political illusion that governments can or will do anything about it.