Friends of the Earth response to Sec. Kerry’s speech at Lima COP

In response to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks today at the UN climate change conference in Lima, Peru, Karen Orenstein, senior analyst at Friends of the Earth U.S., issued the following statement:

We only wish that the U.S. government acted in accordance with the sense of urgency that Secretary Kerry expressed in his speech today at the climate summit in Lima, Peru. The world is tired of hearing rhetorical, empty boasting about U.S. leadership while the glaciers melt, fires rage and people lose their lives to climate change. Yes, the political climate in Washington, DC is indisputably difficult, but that doesn’t excuse President Obama’s advocacy for a non-science-based, voluntary climate agreement internationally, or his decision at home to give fossil fuel polluters access to publicly owned lands.

It is past time to put words into action. The emissions cuts the U.S. has put forward put us on a path for a global temperature increase well beyond the already dangerous 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) level. Secretary Kerry said, “If you’re a big developed nation and you are not helping to lead, then you’re part of the problem.” Regrettably, the U.S. is a tremendous part of the problem, and as the hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Lima and New York have demanded, this must change immediately.

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Expert Contact: Karen Orenstein, 202-222-0717, [email protected]
Communications Contact: EA Dyson, 202-222-0730, [email protected]