RTMon, 02 Nov 2015 13:31 UTC
© @philippeverdier / Twitter
A famous French weatherman has broadcast the news of his sacking in an online video, saying he was fired for writing a book challenging climate change. It comes just weeks before Paris is set to host a UN conference on the controversial topic.
Philippe Verdier, arguably France's most popular weatherman, is the author of the book 'Climat Investigation' (
Climate Investigation), in which he accuses state-funded climate change scientists of having been
"manipulated" and
"politicized." He goes on to accuse the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of publishing deliberately misleading data.
Verdier also says that global warming could be a positive thing for France, boosting tourism, reducing energy bills, and improving health.
The weatherman said he was inspired to write the book after
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met with TV meteorologists and asked them to highlight climate change issues in their broadcasts.
"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."
Comment: 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.
Comment: This was actually reported in the UK Telegraph a couple of weeks ago, which concluded: 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.