France’s top meteorologist sent on ‘forced holiday’ over book questioning ‘climate change’ – Effort to ‘fire’ him for dissent
Mr Verdier told France 5: “Making these revelations in the book, which I absolutely have the right to do, can pose problems for my employer given that the government (which funds France 2) is organising COP [the climate change conference]. In fact as soon as you a slightly different discourse on this subject, you are branded a climate sceptic.”
Mr Verdier writes: “We are undoubtedly on a plateau in terms of warming and the cyclical variability of the climate doesn’t not allow us to envisage if the natural rhythm will tomorrow lead us towards a fall, a stagnation or a rise (in temperature).”
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In a promotional video, Mr Verdier said: “Every night I address five million French people to talk to you about the wind, the clouds and the sun. And yet there is something important, very important that I haven’t been able to tell you, because it’s neither the time nor the place to do so.”
He added: “We are hostage to a planetary scandal over climate change – a war machine whose aim is to keep us in fear.”
His outspoken views led France 2 to take him off the air starting this Monday. “I received a letter telling me not to come. I’m in shock,” he told RTL radio. “This is a direct extension of what I say in my book, namely that any contrary views must be eliminated.”
The book has been released at a particularly sensitive moment as Paris is due to host a crucial UN climate change conference in December.
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Asked whether he had permission from his employer to release the book, he said: “I don’t think management liked it, let’s be honest.”
“I put myself via this investigation on the path of COP 21, which is a bulldozer, and we can see the results.”
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“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”.…
Bill Gates calls fossil fuel divestment a ‘false solution’
Founder of Microsoft and the Gates foundation also accuses environmentalists of making misleading claims about the comparative price of solar
Bill Gates has branded fossil fuel divestment “a false solution” and accused environmentalists of making misleading claims about the price of solar power.
In an interview with US magazine the Atlantic, the founder of Microsoft and the Gates foundation criticised the global movement that has seen pension funds, universities, churches and local governments commit to pulling $2.6tn out of coal, oil and gas companies.
“If you think divestment alone is a solution, I worry you’re taking whatever desire people have to solve this problem and kind of using up their idealism and energy on something that won’t emit less carbon – because only a few people in society are the owners of the equity of coal or oil companies,” he said. “As long as there’s no carbon tax and that stuff is legal, everybody should be able to drive around.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which Gates founded with his wife, is the world’s largest charitable foundation and funder of medical research. It has $1.4bn (£900m) invested in fossil fuel companies, according to its latest available tax filings.…
Jim Webb Is Basically A Republican When It Comes To Global Warming
Webb also took a swipe at the “illusory” agreements between the U.S. and China that have been announced in the last year. Webb argued that the Chinese have been vague on what they would do right away to fight global warming.
“It’s a global problem and I have been very strong on — on doing that,” Webb said. “The — the agreements — the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the — of the Chinese government itself. So let’s solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a — a way to address climate change.”
Webb’s answer during Tuesday night’s debate makes him a stand-out among his Democratic opponents on global warming.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/10/14/jim-webb-is-basically-a-republican-when-it-comes-to-global-warming/#ixzz3oYQxSpOg…
Democrats Compete Over Strong Stance on Climate Action at #DemDebate
http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/14/democratic-debate-climate-change/…
Hillary Tries To Defend The Failed Copenhagen Climate Summit
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a tough time defending her record on global warming in Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate. Clinton scrambled to defend a climate deal she helped broker — a deal widely regarded as a failure.
“But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President [Barack] Obama and I crashed a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they’d ever joined,” Clinton said during CNN’s first Democratic presidential debate.
Clinton was referring to a 2009 United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen she attended while Secretary of State under President Obama. The Obama administration had hyped up the summit, saying they could get countries to sign onto a legally-binding agreement to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Despite the high expectations that Obama and Clinton could rally the world behind a climate agreement, the summit quickly fell apart and no legally-binding agreement was signed. The summit was widely regarded as a failure, and even Obama was disappointed in the results.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/10/14/hillary-tries-to-defend-her-role-at-the-failed-copenhagen-climate-summit/#ixzz3oYOPUX8n…
Global Warming ‘Pause’ Far From Over
Warmist Laments: ‘Hillary Clinton Is Living in a Climate Change Fantasy World’
Clinton staked her climate record on what’s widely perceived to have been one of the biggest diplomatic failures in recent history—the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009. After years of anticipation, the meeting of world leaders ended in disarray, with Obama and his aides famously wandering around the convention center, looking for the leaders of China, India, Brazil, and other key nations. The toothless deal struck at the last minute was called a “grudging accord” by the New York Times the next day. Yes, Obama—and Clinton, then his secretary of state—were instrumental to that deal, but it’s hardly something Hillary should be proud of.
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In reality, the sour legacy of Copenhagen has haunted international climate negotiations ever since. It’s now widely believed that the U.S. never wanted a legally binding climate deal in Copenhagen at all—even though the Democrats controlled the Congress at the time and may have been able to successfully ratify the treaty—opting instead for a mostly empty pledge of billions of dollars in aid to developing nations. Among environmentalists, Clinton has retained only a mediocre reputation on climate change as a result.…
‘Climate Change Gets Its Due In The Democratic Debate’
Cuomo paid state workers to fill seats at climate change event
http://nypost.com/2015/10/14/cuomo-paid-state-workers-to-fill-seats-at-climate-speech/
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasn’t taking any chances that there might be empty seats at a speech he delivered last week on climate change — so state workers were summoned on the taxpayer dime to fill the audience, The Post has learned.
The workers said they left their jobs in the middle of the day Thursday and were paid their full salaries to hear Cuomo at Columbia University announce the state was joining a global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“I’d rather be at the park,” said one of the workers, who is employed by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and who has no connection to climate issues.
He explained that he went because his boss “asked me to make some time available in my schedule.”…