At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event designed to begin building momentum for the COP27 climate conference, scheduled to be held in Egypt in November of this year, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, former Secretary of State and failed presidential candidate John Kerry, sounded dire warnings, saying that the world is “in trouble” when it comes to climate change.
“Let’s be factual, above all, but let me also be blunt and hopefully motivating. We’re in trouble, I hope everybody understands that. Not trouble we can’t get out of, but we’re not on a good track,” Kerry said at the event.
COP26, which was held in Scotland in November of last year, was somewhat of a disappointment to climate zealots who were looking for far-reaching global agreements on emission targets. Speaking about COP26, Kerry said, “a lot of good things are happening, a huge amount of good came out of Glasgow.”
Of course there was a “but” in Kerry’s praise of the Scotland summit. Citing research claiming that the Arctic is warming at a rate quadruple that of the rest of the planet, the former secretary of state lamented, “We’re already seeing tipping points arrived at.”
“We’re also seeing the impacts in floods and fires and mudslides and the extraordinary heat, which is growing in various parts of the world,” Kerry complained.
Kerry also expressed concern about the recent uptick in coal production and use during the past year. Coal is considered the “dirtiest” of fossil fuels, yet countries, most significantly the People’s Republic of China, have been building more coal-fired plants to keep up with energy demands.
“Most countries have the ability to deploy very significant additional amounts of renewables and they’re not choosing to do that,” Kerry lamented.
Unfortunately for Kerry, many of those in his audience — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — are actually in favor building more coal-fired plants and using other fossil fuels.
“If it’s abated — terrific. If you can capture 100 percent [of emissions] and it makes it affordable — that’s wonderful. But we’re not doing that,” Kerry said.
The failed 2004 Democrat nominee for president scolded humanity for its failure to act on climate change: “We need to be compelled as human beings, as leaders particularly, to respond to this.”
Leading by example might be a good start for Kerry. For starters, instead of flying to various conferences and award ceremonies in carbon-spewing jets, which emit more carbon in one trip than the average citizen does in a full year, Kerry could attend these events virtually.
In one such instance, Kerry took his family’s private jet to Iceland to receive the Arctic Circle award for his leadership on climate issues. Asked by Icelandic reporter Jóhann Bjarni Kolbeinsson if that journey was an environmental way to travel, Kerry answered, “It’s the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle.”
“I believe the time it takes to get me somewhere, I can’t sail across the ocean. I have to fly to meet with people and get things done,” Kerry explained.
Because you’re more important than the rest of us, right Mr. Kerry?
The New York Post reported last August that the Kerry family jet had taken at least 16 trips in the previous year, although a spokesperson for the State Department assured us that “Secretary Kerry travels commercially or via military air in his role as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.”
Why fly anywhere at all? If emissions are such a serious problem — and Kerry assures us that they are — why not hold Zoom meetings to accomplish the endless conferences and meetings that people such as the former secretary of state say are vital to saving the world from climate change? Certainly, such Zoom meetings would have their own environmental impact, but that impact would far less than world leaders and their minions from hundreds of nations flying their jets to meet in Scotland or Egypt.
Despite their rhetoric, climate hysterics such as Kerry aren’t really concerned about the environmental impact that their various meetings and conferences are responsible for. Until they drop the hypocrisy and start practicing what they preach, be assured that the climate-alarmist movement is a political one and not a scientific one.
