GREEN on the outside, RED on the inside.
Posted on 06/14/2008 5:29:35 PM PDT by Delacon
The organisers’ graphic prediction on how global warming will affect La Manga has caused sales of houses in the coastal area to drop by 50 percent.
MADRID - A group of real estate developers and property owners in La Manga del Mar Menor - a spit of sandy, low-lying coastal land and Murcia's premier beach resort - are threatening to take Greenpeace to court over its graphic predictions of what global warming may do to the area, which they say have caused house prices to plummet.
The lawsuit, which the plaintiffs plan to present unless Greenpeace agrees to an out of court settlement of almost EUR 30 million in damages, comes more than six months after La Manga featured prominently in a photo book published by the environmental organisation that was intended to shock Spain into action on climate change.
Along with photos of a dried up Ebro River in Zaragoza and a desert in an area of Valencia now filled with lemon and orange groves, the book, Photoclima, shows digitally modified photos of La Manga submerged in water with only the tops of hotels, apartment blocks and palm trees emerging from the blue Mediterranean.
Greenpeace says the book is a graphic portrayal of the conclusions of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has predicted that global warming will cause sea levels to rise around the world over the coming decades.
"We want to create alarm and a call to action," Juan López de Uralde, Greenpeace's director in Spain, said when the book was published.
The photographs certainly caused alarm in La Manga. According to José Ángel Abad, a lawyer who has taken up the case of the area's aggrieved developers and home owners, prices have plunged by "50 percent" in recent months - a dramatic fall even in light of the end of a nationwide house price boom.
Manipulation "Greenpeace manipulated the expected rise in sea levels of half a metre to cause alarm. It has sunk the real estate market: no one is buying and everyone has put their apartments up for sale," Abad claims.
He says his clients are seeking EUR 27 million in damages to cover the decrease in the value of their properties.
However, Greenpeace has no intention of settling out of court, arguing that the La Manga property owners are trying to "blackmail" it into footing the bill for their speculation in the real estate market.
"They're trying to blame Greenpeace and its campaign for the problems they have encountered in a market saturated thanks to real estate speculation," Uralde said this week. "We are not going to be intimidated."
ping
cool!
The lawsuit, which the plaintiffs plan to present unless Greenpeace agrees to an out of court settlement of almost EUR 30 million in damages,
Good Show
Use the same tactics that the Envirofreaks and terrorists have used for years, SUE Sue and then SUE some more Win or lose you tie then up for years tie up their finances and personell.
How do frivolous lawsuits feel now Greenpeace?
DIE, GREEN SLIME!
I wouldn’t call this lawsuit frivolous. The property owners have suffered serious financial losses & Greenpeace is lying. Even the IPCC says that such flooding is extremely unlikely.
GREEN on the outside, RED on the inside.
What’s scary is how easy people can be manipulated by a few Photoshopped images. The Spanish school system must be more pitiful than ours.
When did people lose the capacity to reason and think?
If I was in the market for some ocean front real estate I guess now would be the time to buy in Spain.
At least you know your neighbors have enough common sense not to be scared away by Green BS artists, cuts down on your neighbors being idiot liberals I guess.
I never thought the day would come when I could say a kind word for Greenpeace (GACK!!!), but real estate prices are plummeting everywhere right now.
Looks like a buying opportunity in La Manga to me.
You are right, these guys are especially virulent against regions of Spain governed by right wing administrations, such as Valencia and Murcia, keeping the southern Andalucia, ruled by the Socialist, away from their apocalyptic predictions.
Sue the Bastards!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.