Nicolas Hulot

Nicolas Hulot, September 2008

Nicolas Hulot, September 2008

Nicolas Hulot (born April 30, 1955 in Lille, France – Officier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier des Arts et Lettres) is the founder and president of the Fondation Nicolas-Hulot, an environmental group first created in 1990.

He is well-known in France for his documentary show "Ushuaïa" which focuses on nature and the environment. In his documentaries, he draws attention to environmental damage caused by humans and changes that need to be made to protect the planet.

His popularity has provided him with some influence in the French political debate. In 2007 he forced five of the major candidates to the French Presidential Election (including Nicolas Sarkozy) to sign an agreement which stated that the environmental crisis would have to become a high governmental priority.

Nicolas Hulot was candidate in the Europe Écologie-The Greens primary for the French Presidential Election in 2012.^[1]. He lost to Eva Joly.

Chronology

• 1973 to 1978: Agency photographer for SIPA Presse
• 1978 to 1987: radio journalist and producer for France Inter
• October 1992 to June 1995: Editor-in-chief of VSD Nature
• 1976 to 1993: Expedition organizer
• September 1987 to June 1995: Producer and presenter of "Ushuaïa, le magazine de l'Extrême" on TF1
• January 1996 to June 1997: Producer and presenter of TF1's "Opération Okavango"
• October 1998: Producer and presenter of TF1's "Ushuaïa Nature"
• December 1990: creation of the Ushuaïa Foundation, which was renamed Fondation Nicolas Hulot pour la Nature et l'Homme on January 1, 1995
• April 13 2011: Candidate to French Presidential Elections.

Pacte Ecologique

In 2007, Nicolas Hulot warned candidates in the French Presidential election that he would present himself as a candidate if ecology were one of the main subjects of the elections. His high popularity – and some polls credited him with more than 15% of votes if he were to run – meant he represented a serious threat to other presidential candidates.

To avoid this event, five of the 12 candidates in the French Presidential election signed his "Pacte Ecologique" (ecology pact), affirming that ecological problems would be key in all future political decisions.^[2] The importance of this pact, is however, questionable.

Some of the decisions made by the French government as a result of this pact are:

- The Ecology Minister became a "Ministre d'état," an honorific title in the French republic. - An important conference was held between environmental organizations, enterprises, researchers, economists and other experts to discuss policies to combat the current environmental crisis. It was referred to as "Le Grenelle de l'environnement," in reference to the Grenelle Agreements of 1968. - In 2009, the government tried to set up a carbon tax.

Critics

Nicolas Hulot has been criticised by some commentators, like Le Canard Enchaîné and supporters of uneconomic growth and political ecology who have criticised his use of the media and acceptance of funds from large firms, like EDF, L'Oréal and Rhône-Poulenc.^[3][4]

Bibliography

• Ces enfants qui souffrent, published by P.A.C.,
• Tabarly, 45 ans de défis, published by P.A.C.,
• Les chemins de traverse, published by Lattès Paris, 1989, VLACC-number 00811951
• Chasseurs de pôles (with Jean-François Chaigneau), published by Albin Michel,
• États d'âme, published by Lattès Paris, 1991, ISBN 2-7096-0957-6
• Questions de nature, published by Plon,
• À mes risques et plaisirs, published by Plon.
• Le syndrome du Titanic, published by Lgf, 01/2006, ISBN 2-7021-3418-1
• Pour un pacte écologique, published by Calmann-Levy, 11/2006, ISBN 2-7021-3742-3

External links

• Nicolas Hulot at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.fondation-nicolas-hulot.org/ (French)
• http://www.ecole-nicolas-hulot.org/ (French)
• http://www.planete-nature.org/ (French)
• http://www.sos-planete-eau.org/ (French)

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ // Le Pacte écologique de Nicolas Hulot //
3. ^ "Nicolas Hulot, le Pacte médiatique, de Sophie Divry sur decroissance.org"
4. ^ « Ne soyez pas timide, M. Hulot ! », in L'Écologiste n° 21, décembre 2006-mars 2007, p.3

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Name	Hulot, Nicolas
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Date of birth	April 30, 1955
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