John Kerry: Climate Change Is 'Perhaps The World's Most Fearsome Weapon Of Mass Destruction'

[kpete]

John Kerry: Climate Change Is 'Perhaps The World's Most Fearsome Weapon Of Mass Destruction'

JAKARTA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Indonesians on Sunday that man-made climate change could threaten their entire way of life, deriding those who doubted the existence of "perhaps the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction".

"We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists ... and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific fact," he said. "The science is unequivocal and those who refuse to believe it are simply burying their heads in the sand."

"The bottom line is this: it is the same thing with climate change. In a sense, climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/16/john-kerry-climate-change_n_4798963.html

[WhiteTara]

1. Does this mean he will oppose the KXL pipeline?

Or just more words?

[hatrack]

2. Well, that's the 800,000 barrel-per-day question, isn't it?

Also, please see above:

Arctic Sea Ice Melting Now - In February - North Pole 35F Over Historical Avg. 2/13

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024512342

[WhiteTara]

5. Is that pumped and used or pumped on the ground

and the streams? Everyone seems to think "my little part is nothing" and all parts end up with a world of nasty hellholes.

[hatrack]

6. That's pumped - projection for Keystone output

nt

[fadedrose]

3. Well, he sounds good

I hope he's not a oil pipeline-supporting environmentalist in word only.

I also hope the people of Jakarta don't find out that he supports the X-pipeline if he does. His credibility as Secretary of State would sure be shot to hell....

[woo me with science]

4. Well, the administration doesn't seem too concerned.

As long as President Obama is supporting fracking, enabling big oil and gas, selling off the Gulf of Mexico for drilling, and pushing the horrific, predatory TPP that assaults the environment and will allow global corporations to supersede national regulations on business, claims that the administration is concerned about climate change sound like predictable election-year PR rhetoric and little else.

Fracking is a huge environmental and human threat. Why does Obama support it?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024470380

Oil industry wrote State Department report on Keystone
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024487677

2013 In Review: Obama Talks Climate Change–But Pushes Fracking
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112760899

I told myself this couldn't be true: Big Oil and Gas is Exempt from Major Environmental Laws
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024480868

Obama's Oil Expansion Plans: A Clear and Present Danger to Public Safety
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112759747

Video: Romney And Obama Argue About Who Loves Big Oil More
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101768935

Obama and Climate Change: The Real Story
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014675710
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024190645

WikiLeaks Release: Administration Retreating on Environment in Talks on Pacific Trade
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014697818

WikiLeaks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Environment Chapter: "Toothless Public Relations Exercise
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024374847

Obama is determined to push the TPP through despite opposition
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024505012

Leaked TPP Document Reveals No Regard for Environment in Trade Agreement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017169842

TYT: Obama Relies On Corrupt Consultants For Crucial Environmental Report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017173081

Obama Administration Sells More Than 20 Million Acres in Western Gulf of Mexico for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Development
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021896005

Eighteen leading environmental groups demand an end to Obama's "all of the above" energy strategy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101683340

[ProSense]

7. Actually,

"Well, the administration doesn't seem too concerned."

...the administration is very "concerned."

$1 Billion for Climate Preparedness: The White House Gets It
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024505179

From your last link

And here’s more commentary from Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice, another group that signed the letter:

In addition, “all of the above” leaves the American people holding the bag of drinking water contamination in our communities, crude oil pipeline bursts in our neighborhoods, toxic chemicals in our air, fracking groundwater accidents across the nation, oil spills in our precious Arctic waters and in our seafood-rich Gulf, carcinogenic dumping in our community waters, mountaintop removal across the Appalachians, historic coal ash spills, and more.

Yes, environmentalists are against the “all of the above” strategy.

Environmentalists, however, do recognize progress when they see it.

Earthjustice Statement on President Obama's State of the Union Address

Washington, D.C. —

The following is a statement from Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

“We are encouraged that President Obama made climate change a centerpiece of his speech tonight. We applaud his commitment to facing this challenge, for the benefit of our children and grandchildren.

“President Obama has taken courageous actions so far to back this commitment. His leadership in achieving strong clean car standards has been a huge accomplishment, and we are thrilled with his leadership in tackling carbon pollution from power plants, the nation’s largest source of climate change pollution. And tonight, the President went further and affirmed that we can’t allow destructive energy development on our pristine public lands.

“The success of the President’s climate plan and our children's future depends on viewing all fossil fuels decisions through the lens of climate impacts, as the president has said he would do for the Keystone XL pipeline. Those agencies responsible for drilling off our coasts, fracking, mountaintop removal, and fossil fuel exports have to prioritize climate change just as the EPA is doing, and the President needs to ensure that they do.

“An ‘all-of-the-above energy strategy’ cannot work for the President’s own climate action plan and the climate vision he espoused tonight. All energy sources were not created equal. Clean energy is better for our families, communities, future generations, and American competitiveness. The United States should be placing our bets on 'best of the above,' not 'all of the above.' The President rightly called out the need to invest in solar energy that can power our homes and our economy rather than fossil fuels.

- more -

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/earthjustice-statement-on-president-obama-s-state-of-the-union-address

As for the Keystone report, here is the assessment unskewed:

Bill McKibben Reacts to Latest Keystone XL Environmental Impact Statement

350.org co-founder Bill McKibben issued the following statement this afternoon in response to the latest State Department environmental impact statement on the Keystone XL pipeline:

“The intrusion of reality into this process is really important. The report concluded that in a scenario where we take climate change seriously and regulate climate pollution, this pipeline will indeed have a ‘significant impact’ on climate change. So now we’ll find out if that’s the world Barack Obama and John Kerry want. This report gives President Obama everything he needs in order to block this project. This is the first environmental issue in years to bring Americans into the streets in big numbers, and now they’ll be there in ever greater numbers to make sure the President makes the right call.”

http://350.org/press-release/bill-mckibben-reacts-to-latest-keystone-xl-environmental-impact-statement/

That's the third statement from environmentalists rejecting the media spin.

NRDC: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024423143#post4
Michael Brune: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024423143#post5

[hatrack]

8. Yes, and it was 35F above normal on Thursday - at the North Pole

Arctic sea ice is melting now - in February.

Water temperatures near Svalbard, which at its southernmost tip is located at 74 North, are 10F above normal.

Water temperatures in the Gulf Stream off the East Coast of the United States are 10F above normal.

Considering that the flow of the ocean conveyer is estimated at about 10 times the combined flow of every river in the world, what kind of energy do you think it took to heat it up 10F? Hint - lots.

On edit - graph above originally said 100X - that's incorrect, though 100X the flow of the Amazon alone would be accurate.

35F above normal at the freaking NORTH POLE in FEBRUARY doesn't just sit there on the screen. It leaps out and beats you about the head and shoulders. It's an extraordinary spike for the truly extraordinary cycle that is just getting going.

So if you want to trot out the list of all the superawesome things Obama is doing on climate, have at it. It might make you feel good, and maybe other people too.

But please know that there is a very good chance that things are just going to happen automatically from this point out, with or without human intervention. Given that very real possibility, spare me the $1billion climate adaptation update.

Oh, and yes, I know, Republicans would be worse.

[ProSense]

9. I still think

"So if you want to trot out the list of all the superawesome things Obama is doing on climate, have at it. It might make you feel good, and maybe other people too.

But please know that there is a very good chance that things are just going to happen automatically from this point out, with or without human intervention. Given that very real possibility, spare me the $1billion climate adaptation update. "

...the biggest travesty was the kill the bill types in 2009. So please, "spare me" talk about what can or can't "happen automatically."

July 2009: Disillusioned Environmentalists Turn on Obama as Compromiser

<...>

In a statement, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and an architect of the bill, defended the legislation. “We worked hard to craft legislation that would achieve our environmental goals while addressing the regional concerns of members of Congress,” he said. Politicians are not the only targets of dejected environmentalists.

<...>

That's six months into the Presidency.

July 2009: House passes landmark climate change bill

September 2009: Boxer, Kerry Set to Introduce Climate Bill in Senate

October 2009: Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill: Chairman’s mark and EPA analysis released

November 2009: Boxer Statement on Committee Passage of S. 1733 – The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act

Unfortunately, by the time the bill got to the full Senate, it was attacked from all sides. Close = no bill.

No bill equals progressives won?

There is a difference between fighting for change and standing in the way of it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x725008

[ProSense]

10. Oh, and here's the irony

a bill that looks almost the same, which likely has no chance of passing now, is being praised: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024509463

[hatrack]

11. "Things happening automatically" was not about legislation

It was about rapid climate destabilization.

Ask the people in the U.K. what it looks like. They're getting very familiar with the concept.

[ProSense]

13. Yes, the situation is really bad

"Things happening automatically" was not about legislation

It was about rapid climate destabilization.

Ask the people in the U.K. what it looks like. They're getting very familiar with the concept.

They were bad in 2009 too, but that didn't stop people from killing a bill that would put a solution on track.

Legislation and policy is what elected officials do.

What do you propose doing about it? If you claim it's too late, mocking attempts to help people deal with the effects, assist those who produce food and educate those still in denial isn't helpful.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

12. not nearly enough recs

the messsge is vital and succinct.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Words are cheap...

[ProSense]

16. Sometimes

"Words are cheap..."

..."words" are powerful: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024511737#post1

[Pterodactyl]

15. Well, that and asteroids, of course.

[MisterP]

17. "weapon"? that'd imply intent