Josh Earnest says climate change a bigger threat than terrorism
White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the Obama administration indeed considers climate change a bigger threat to the U.S. and its interests than global terrorism.
President Obama said in a Vox interview published Monday that the media is guilty of overstating the threat of global terrorism compared to issues such as global warming.
“Is the president saying, as he seems to be implying here, that the threat of climate change is greater than the threat of terrorism?” ABC News’ Jonathan Karl asked Earnest Tuesday in a bid to clarify Obama’s remark.
photo/Agrant141 per wikimedia commons
Earnest insisted that because of global anti-terror efforts “terrorist organizations no longer have that same capacity” to harm American citizens.
“The point that president is making is that there are many more people on an annual basis who have to confront the impact, the direct impact on their lives of climate change or on the spread of a disease than on terrorism,” Earnest added.
Obama has been criticized for his “folks” comment regarding the terrorist attacks in France, making it sound like a random act of violence or street crime.
“It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
He was critical of the media’s approach to headlines, “And climate change is one that is happening at such a broad scale and at such a complex system, it’s a hard story for the media to tell on a day-to-day basis.”
global temp chart from British Met office, 2012
