Philipe Verdier, a household name for his nightly forecasts on France 2, has been suspended due to his newly published book in which he argues the climate change industry is a "war machine whose aim is to keep us in fear."
Verdier claims in the book "Climat Investigation" ("Climate Investigation") that lead climatologists and political leaders have "taken the world hostage" with misleading data, according to The Telegraph.
Not only did this go over poorly because of his position but also because his employer is funded by the French government and it's ideologically committed to promoting a global warming narrative leading to the United Nation's COP21 climate conference that will be held in Paris in December.
"I don't think management liked it, let's be honest," he said, claiming his employer as a result told him not to come to work on Monday, according to Breitbart.
However, his employer claims that isn't the case and says it merely ordered him to take a prolonged leave through Oct. 26 to promote his book.
In the promotional video for his book, Verdier says: "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."
"We are hostage to a planetary scandal over climate change - a war machine whose aim is to keep us in fear," he concluded.
He claims the climate change panic serves no one but politicians and their continued lust for power, according to Ace of Spades HQ.
Verdier also penned an open letter to French President Francois Hollande attacking the upcoming conference in Paris.
"I scarcely hear in your words any sincerity, any intention of acting truly for the environment in a manner measured and constructive...," he wrote.
"In two months, France welcomes the COP21, the conference of nations united for the climate. Your political strategy team has told you that it will all come to nothing, like the 20 before it. Then why continue to pretend to be saving the planet?" he asked.
"You, president of the Republic, you cannot support the ultra-politicized scientists of the GEIC, the corporate lobbyists, the NGO environmental groups, nor the self-proclaimed apostles of the new religion of climate," he concluded.
Verdier says he was encouraged to write the book in June 2014 when French foreign minister Laurent Fabius summoned the country's main weather presenters and urged them to mention "climate chaos" in their forecasts.
"I was horrified by this discourse," Verdier told Les Inrockuptibles magazine. Eight days later, Fabius appeared on the front cover of a magazine posing as a weatherman above the headline: "500 days to save the planet."
"If a minister decides he is Mr Weatherman, then Mr Weatherman can also express himself on the subject in a lucid manner," Verdier asserted.
Unions at France Television had initially called for Verdier to be fired, but France 2's chief executive said he should be allowed to stay "in the name of freedom of expression."
