This is not an Avatar
It remains to be seen whether Copenhagen was indeed a watershed; but at least the French mainstream media seem less apologetic in past months. It is comforting for instance to read the columns by Claude Allègre in the weekly Le Point. (He was sacked from competitor L’Express in 2008, presumably for speaking out against the alarmists. Last October he called the self-appointed eco-hero Nicolas Hulot an imbecile.
His conclusion last week: the developing countries wisely rejected the (barely implicit) call for starvation and mayhem in exchange for CO2 reductions, and denounced “the false imperalist naiveté of the North”. “This fabulous Meccano is based (…) on a predictive model that we know is more than uncertain and probably false. But behind this organization there is also the will to rule the world by a hoard of civil servants (…).” His bravado is commendable, in particular since he remains relatively isolated.
“The world will only regain harmonious growth through innovation and adaptation to climate change, by means of wealth creation.” Let’s hope somebody is listening.
Photos: freedigitalphotos
Filed Under: CFACT EU • Climate • Development
About the Author: Jacob Arfwedson first worked on environmental issues with the ICREI (Paris) in the early 1990s (www.icrei.org).
He has published extensively on various free market issues, working with some 20 think tanks in Europe and the US for the past 20 years.
He received his MA from the Catholic University of Paris before studying at the Catholic University of America (Timbro Capitol Fellowship). He is a free-lance consultant and writer based in Paris, Senior Fellow and Director of the Paris office of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (New York) and a Fellow at the European Enterprise Institute (Brussels). He is a former Director of Eurolibnetwork (Paris) and former Director of the CNE Health Forum (Centre for the New Europe, Brussels).
His articles have been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, le Figaro and AGEFI Switzerland. He is currently working on welfare reform including pensions, health care and elderly care in Europe.
