Secretary of State John Kerry spent his weekend discussing climate change in Indonesia:
“We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts,” Kerry told the audience gathered at a U.S. Embassy-run American Center in a Jakarta shopping mall. “Nor should we allow any room for those who think that the costs associated with doing the right thing outweigh the benefits.”
This is part of a six-day Kerry trip through Seoul, South Korea; Beijing, China; Jakarta; Indonesia; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and then back to Washington.
In case you’re wondering, flying first-class from Washington to Seoul to Beijing to Jakarta to Abu Dhabi and then back to Washington runs up roughly 12.16 metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to CarbonFootprint.com, which uses data from the EPA and Department of Energy.
The average American generates about 19 tons of carbon dioxide in a year.
So in one week, just from flying from meeting to meeting, Kerry generated about two-thirds the carbon output of the average American in one year.
Clearly, he should cut down on the air travel and set an example for the rest of us. After all, we shouldn’t “allow any room for those who think that the costs associated with doing the right thing outweigh the benefits.”
What does he think powers the plane he flies on, wind and solar?