Kerry hosts reception, backs climate-change campaign
September 24, 2014 | 11:25 PM
NEW YORK CITY — Secretary of State John Kerry hosted a reception here tonight for the members of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture and gave his backing to the campaign to find ways to address climate change in agriculture.
John Kerry
At a reception at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Kerry, the former Massachusetts Democratic senator, noted that even though he is known for his activism against the Vietnam War, when he returned from Vietnam he joined the Earth Day movement even before he started his anti-war campaign.
To an audience focused on land-based agriculture, Kerry added notes of political realism and the importance of the oceans and fisheries.
He pointed out that a campaign in the 1970s to defeat a group of members of Congress known as the “dirty dozen” for their opposition to cleaning up the environment had led to the election of new congressional leaders and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Kerry noted that he had attended a number of environmental summits where the conclusions had been ignored, and “now we are where we are.”
The real solution to climate change and agriculture is not the development of drought-resistant seed but to address the problem before the temperatures rise further.
“The link is clear,” Kerry said, “climate change affects how much food we produce.”
Climate change has produced terrible problems in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Kerry said, and the State Department is “going to look immediately at what we can do in Central America.”
Kerry, who is holding a separate event Thursday on the oceans, noted that he had chaired a Senate subcommittee on oceans and fisheries and said he remains interested in those issues.
He also introduced Netherlands Agriculture Minister Sharon Dijksma, and thanked her and her government for playing a major role in the development of the alliance.
Dijksma said she is motivated by worries that in 2050 her children will ask her what she did while in office to address climate change.
“It would be devastating if I gave the answer I did nothing. So that will not the answer,” she said.
At a reception at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Kerry, the former Massachusetts Democratic senator, noted that even though he is known for his activism against the Vietnam War, when he returned from Vietnam he joined the Earth Day movement even before he started his anti-war campaign.
To an audience focused on land-based agriculture, Kerry added notes of political realism and the importance of the oceans and fisheries.
He pointed out that a campaign in the 1970s to defeat a group of members of Congress known as the “dirty dozen” for their opposition to cleaning up the environment had led to the election of new congressional leaders and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Kerry noted that he had attended a number of environmental summits where the conclusions had been ignored, and “now we are where we are.”
The real solution to climate change and agriculture is not the development of drought-resistant seed but to address the problem before the temperatures rise further.
“The link is clear,” Kerry said, “climate change affects how much food we produce.”
Climate change has produced terrible problems in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Kerry said, and the State Department is “going to look immediately at what we can do in Central America.”
Kerry, who is holding a separate event Thursday on the oceans, noted that he had chaired a Senate subcommittee on oceans and fisheries and said he remains interested in those issues.
He also introduced Netherlands Agriculture Minister Sharon Dijksma, and thanked her and her government for playing a major role in the development of the alliance.
Dijksma said she is motivated by worries that in 2050 her children will ask her what she did while in office to address climate change.
“It would be devastating if I gave the answer I did nothing. So that will not the answer,” she said.
