Greenpeace leader forced to admit climate change exaggerations

August 20, 11:15 AMDenver Weather ExaminerTony Hake

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The executive director of Greepeace was forced to
admit his group exaggerated global warming claims.

Gerd Leipold, Executive Director of Greenpeace, was forced to admit that his organization put out false and misleading information about the effects of climate change. When confronted on the BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’ program, Leipold said it “may have been a mistake” but justified the claims saying “we’re not ashamed of emotionalizing issues.”

• Video:  Greenpeace leader admits releasing misleading climate change information

On July 15th Greenpeace issued a press release titled “Urgent action needed as Arctic ice melts.” In the release, a number of stark and fearful claims were made. Among the most astonishing, the group claimed, “As permanent ice decreases, we are looking at ice-free summers in the Arctic as early as 2030.”

That claim however goes completely counter to even the direst predictions for the Arctic ice. Hardtalk host Stephen Sackur queried Leipold accusing him of giving out “misleading information” and “exaggeration and alarmism.”

“We as a pressure group have to emotionalize issues and we’re not ashamed of emotionalizing issues.”
~ Gerd Leipold, Executive Director of Greenpeace

Leipold admitted to the error saying, “I don’t think it will be melting by 2030. … That may have been a mistake.” He however justified the inaccurate information saying, “We as a pressure group have to emotionalize issues and we’re not ashamed of emotionalizing issues.”

Those who do not believe in the manmade climate change theory were quick to seize on the admission and pointed to other recent claims by alarmists including:

• United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently said, “We have just four months. Four months to secure the future of our planet.”
• Dr. James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) warned in January that President Obama had ‘four years to save the world.’
• Britain’s Prince Charles saying that nations had “less than 100 months to act”