Thread by @MesMitch

John Kerry launches coalition to fight climate crisis: ‘We are way behind’
Bipartisan bloc aims to convince people that rapid action is required to halt carbon emissions within 30 years

Former US secretary of state and Democratic senator John Kerry has launched a new coalition of power-brokers, including top politicians, military leaders, and Hollywood celebrities, to fight for addressing the climate crisis.

This coalition – named World War Zero, in reference to the national security danger presented by global heating – aims to convince people that rapid mobilization is required to halt the increase in carbon emissions within 30 years. According to United Nations scientists, global

carbon emissions must be halved by 2030 – and eliminated completely by 2050 – to restrict warming to comparatively safe levels.

The US and China are the top polluters in the world. While other countries are working to bolster the 2015 Paris

Agreement on climate, Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from the pact.The bipartisan bloc includes Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, as well as moderate Republicans such as former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the New York Times reported.

Celebrities such as Sting, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ashton Kutcher are also among the some 60 original members, the newspaper said. Participants might favor particular policy approaches to cutting emissions – such as a carbon

dioxide tax or federal environmental programs – but the group is not touting any specific initiative.During a Sunday morning appearance on NBCs Meet The Press, host Chuck Todd asked Kerry whether the real issue was getting Trump to act on climate – rather than raising awareness

“Well it’s not just the president, Chuck. There are great efforts out there, many environmental groups, young people, particularly, but no country is getting the job done,” Kerry said. “I mean, the simple reality is that we are way behind,

way behind the 8-ball. Things are getting worse, not better. And so we have our unlikely allies coming together here.”“There’s no group that has people as diverse as ours in terms of nationality, age, gender, ideology, background, life experience and all of these

people have come together saying, we’ve got to treat this like a war,” Kerry continued.

“But with the desire to make certain that in America and around the world, people are going to put this issue way up at the top of the list. We’re going to do the things we

need to do, we’re going to organize, we’re going to mobilize, we’re going to talk to literally millions of Americans over the course of the next months, and this is going to become a primary issue.”

Schwarzenegger said environmental advocates had to communicate more effectively – by discussing pollution, not global heating. Polling conducted by The Schwarzenegger Institute, which aims to impact public policy in a post-partisan manner, indicated the words

“climate change” didn’t have all that much impact with Americans.“I think the way to convince the whole world is by not just always talking about climate change, which doesn’t mean that much to most of the people,” he said on Meet The Press.

“When we said, ‘climate change,’ [to] the conservatives, there were only 17% interested and thought that there was a serious threat. But as soon as we said pollution, the numbers went over 50%.”“So, we got to communicate. The environmental community has to communicate better

and talk about pollution, because pollution is a threat right now.”

In Schwarzenegger’s view, people aren’t likely to think of threats decades in the future – impacting how the conversation should be framed.

“They think about now. How can I survive? How can I provide jobs? How can I go and feed my family?” he said. “Those are the kind of issues and that’s why it’s important that we talk about the health issue.”