France gets it - climate "change"

From the London Financial Times:

Sarkozy in climate row over reshuffle
President Nicolas Sarkozy's desire to appoint an outspoken climate-change sceptic to a new French super-ministry of industry and innovation has drawn strong protests from party colleagues and environmentalists.

Claude All�gre argues that global warming is not necessarily caused by human activity. Putting him in charge of scientific research would be tantamount to "giving the finger to scientists", said Nicolas Hulot, France's best-known environmental activist.

Mr Sarkozy wants to bring Mr All�gre, 72, a freethinking, former socialist education minister, into the government in a reshuffle after next month's European parliamentary elections. The president appears to reckon that appointing someone from outside his own centre-right party will help to counter perceptions that he is a polarising, sectarian leader who decides everything himself. Several portfolios are already held by figures from the left and centre.

Alain Jupp�, the former centre-right prime minister, said the appointment would send a "terribly bad signal" ahead of international negotiations to secure a successor to the Kyoto treaty on cuts to carbon emissions.

One critic said that associating Mr All�gre with the government's ambitious environmental policy was like putting "organic farming alongside Chernobyl".

Mr Sarkozy is said to value Mr All�gre's experience, his plain speaking and his convictions on the need to free up the economy and shake up the public sector - particularly the university research establishment.

Heh - a wonderful move by Sarko. Breath of fresh air compared with the other Euros. I do not have the numbers to hand but I was reading that France is now 80% powered by nuclear; so much so that France's export of electricity to neighboring nations is its number four export! As for that line about: "putting organic farming alongside Chernobyl" That would actually work out quite well. Background radiation has fallen to very safe levels and the surrounding area has been declared a nature preserve. Since traffic through there is minimal (the area is quite the tourist attraction) and since other, traditional, manufacturing is gone and since there is no sewage or garbage from residents, it would be an ideal and pristine area for organic farming.