{"id":22158,"date":"2014-02-17T16:17:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T16:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/?p=321756"},"modified":"2014-02-17T16:17:40","modified_gmt":"2014-02-17T16:17:40","slug":"secretary-of-state-john-kerry-calls-climate-change-weapon-of-mass-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/secretary-of-state-john-kerry-calls-climate-change-weapon-of-mass-destruction\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary of State John Kerry Calls Climate Change \u2018Weapon of Mass Destruction\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/files.cdn.ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/ww-150x150.png\" alt=\"ww\"><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/08\/27\/naming-hurricanes-after-politicians-who-deny-climate-change\/beansbw-16\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-304108\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"beansbw\" src=\"http:\/\/files.cdn.ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/beansbw9.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\"><\/a>Yesterday in the&nbsp;Indonesian capital of Jakarta, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry&nbsp;urged developing nations to focus on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, likening subsequent&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/category\/climate-change-news\/\" target=\"_blank\">climate change<\/a> to weapon of mass destruction, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/asia_pacific\/kerry-calls-climate-change-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction-derides-skeptics\/2014\/02\/16\/1283b168-971a-11e3-ae45-458927ccedb6_story.html\" target=\"_blank\">reports<\/a> the <em>Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing a group of government officials and students at an American cultural center, Sec. Kerry disparaged climate deniers in the U.S., calling skeptics members of the &ldquo;Flat Earth Society&rdquo;&nbsp;and saying climate change is as real as the gravity that caused Isaac Newton&#8217;s apple to fall from the tree.<\/p>\n[caption id=\"attachment_321789\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"500\"]<a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2014\/02\/17\/kerry-calls-climate-change-weapon-of-mass-destruction\/ww\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-321789\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ww\" src=\"http:\/\/files.cdn.ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/ww.png\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\"><\/a> Secretary of State John Kerry gives his keynote speech in Jakarta, Indonesia on Sunday, Feb. 16.[\/caption]\n<p>&ldquo;We simply don&rsquo;t have time to let a few loud interest groups hijack the climate conversation,&rdquo; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/asia_pacific\/kerry-calls-climate-change-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction-derides-skeptics\/2014\/02\/16\/1283b168-971a-11e3-ae45-458927ccedb6_story.html\" target=\"_blank\">Kerry said<\/a>, pointing to lobbyist groups and large corporations determined to oppose climate science in the name of private profits.<\/p>\n<p>Citing the imperativeness of ocean acidification, rising sea-levels and <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2014\/02\/11\/extreme-weather-hits-hard-worldwide\/\" target=\"_blank\">extreme weather events<\/a>, Sec. Kerry again demonstrated <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/02\/04\/climate-change-top-priority-kerry\/\" target=\"_blank\">his climate change credentials<\/a> and his resolve to work towards the&nbsp;negotiation of a major&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2014\/01\/06\/secretary-kerry-pursues-climate-pact-could-close-keystone-xl-pipeline\/\" target=\"_blank\">international climate pact in 2015<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In response to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/secretary\/remarks\/2014\/02\/221704.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Sec. Kerry&#8217;s speech<\/a>, Yeb Sano, the outspoken, Philippines Climate Commissioner, who last November&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/11\/11\/philippines-typhoon-global-warming-warsaw-climate-talks\/\" target=\"_blank\">staged a hunger strike in solidarity with the people of the Philippines<\/a> in the aftermath of <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/11\/16\/typhoon-haiyan-need-climate-action\/\" target=\"_blank\">Typhoon Haiyan<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rtcc.org\/2014\/02\/17\/yeb-sano-kerrys-climate-warning-needs-political-backing\/\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Secretary John Kerry&rsquo;s message is the kind of tone we want to hear from the U.S. and from every world leader.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I think the major challenge is how to translate the rhetoric into genuine political will.&nbsp;This will necessitate massive reforms in corporate media, which has a lot of influence on how constituencies and the public think about the facts surrounding the science of climate change and the solutions that are necessary to fight climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Reiterating&nbsp;Sec. Kerry analogy, Sano concluded, &#8220;We are at war; a war we cannot afford to lose.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the video of Sec. Kerry&#8217;s speech:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Visit EcoWatch&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/category\/climate-change-news\/\" target=\"_blank\">CLIMATE CHANGE<\/a>&nbsp;page for more related news on this topic.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/newsletter-signup\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-321605\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"topnewsbanner13\" src=\"http:\/\/files.cdn.ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/topnewsbanner131.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"120\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,57],"tags":[754,12199,2906],"class_list":["post-22158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-building-posts","category-leed-news","tag-climate-change","tag-featured-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}