French TV host brings green crusade to election race

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

PARIS (AFP) — Meet Nicolas Hulot, France's wildly popular nature TV presenter with ratings the two front runners in next year's presidential race would die for, and a crusade to push green issues to the top of the election agenda. The 51-year-old has burst into the 2007 campaign with a threat: if the main candidates don't heed his call, he'll be forced to stand against them.

He sees global warming and the defence of the environment as the most important issues man faces in the 21st century -- threats more serious than weapons proliferation, terrorism or AIDS. "Humanity is like a boat heading straight for a rock, and no one's dropping the sails or changing direction. Like the Titanic," he warns. With his tousled hair and boyish intrepidity he is known as the "Green Tintin",...