John Kerry Took Private Jet to Accept Environmental Award, Called It 'Only Choice for Somebody Like Me'
Apparently, the way to win the war against climate change is for the rich and powerful to fly around the world on private jets.
According to Fox News, President Joe Biden’s newly appointed climate czar, John Kerry, boarded a private jet and flew to Iceland in 2019 to receive the Arctic Circle award for climate leadership.
Kerry claimed that the chosen method of travel was the only option for someone of his stature.
“If you offset your carbon — it’s the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle,” Kerry told an Icelandic reporter in an interview reportedly obtained by Fox News.
The outlet noted that it remains “unclear how Kerry has been offsetting his carbon output.” However, the climate czar’s flight logs indicate that the private jet owned by his family spent over 20 hours in the air last year, “culminating in an estimated 116 metric tons of carbon emissions.”
For reference, a 2018 Environmental Protection Agency report found that “a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year,” assuming the average gasoline vehicle being driven today has a fuel economy of about 22 miles per gallon and gains approximately 11,500 miles per year.
Furthermore, commercial passenger flights are, according to some studies, as much as eight times more efficient than private planes, calculating by passenger.
Once again, the elite get to play by different rules than everyone else does.
[firefly_poll]
Kerry, though no stranger to hypocrisy during his 2004 presidential campaign, as well as during his tenure as Secretary of State, has truly outdone himself this time.
Thankfully, this scandal doesn’t look like it will simply be shoved under the rug.
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted last week, “Will John Kerry sacrifice his private jet in the name of ‘climate justice’? Of course not — sacrifice is only for working Americans.”
Will John Kerry sacrifice his private jet in the name of “climate justice”?
Of course not—sacrifice is only for working Americans. pic.twitter.com/QhK2FVykxU
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) January 27, 2021
Former Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina, who is running for Senate in the 2022 election, tweeted, “Was the award for hypocrisy or the number of people he sent to the unemployment line in the last two weeks?”
Was the award for hypocrisy or the number of people he sent to the unemployment line in the last two weeks?https://t.co/hW60hdRkjC
— Mark Walker (@RepMarkWalker) February 3, 2021
If Kerry was really interested in fighting climate change, he would set an example by taking a road trip to local events (maybe in a Prius) or by flying commercial internationally, like everyone else.
Instead, he chooses to preach from his private plane while the American people suffer from job losses caused by his actions.
If Biden really wanted Americans to take climate change seriously, he never would have appointed Kerry as his “Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.”
There are serious conversations to be had about climate change, and there’s nothing wrong with a greener planet or the incorporation of renewable energy sources.
With good policies, like the ones we saw during the Trump administration, America could even create jobs and reinvigorate the national economy. However, any action should keep the current jobs, welfare and quality of life of the American people in mind.
Unfortunately, what we have now are left-wing politicians virtue-signaling from up on high while they damage the environment far more than a middle-class American driving to work every day.
This isn’t right, and it shouldn’t be tolerated. Shame on Kerry, and shame on Biden for appointing him.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
