Secretary of State John Kerry continued to beat the drum on the dangers of climate change Friday, noting that “there is no Planet B.” The secretary made the remarks at the swearing-in ceremony for Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom David Saperstein. He drew a religious connection to the issue of climate change, saying that “when it comes to the fundamental health of Earth, folks, we’d better stick to the Creator’s original plan.”
Kerry said he and Saperstein had worked together on a number of issues in the past thirty years, including climate change:
The “no Planet B” line is not original with Kerry. The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon recently used it at September’s UN climate summit in New York where he told reporters, “There is no Plan B because we do not have planet B.” However, the “Planet B” idea predates Ban Ki-moon’s usage; there are t-shirts, a book, Facebook pages, and even a YouTube video,
It’s unclear exactly where the phrase originated, but press reports first begin mentioning the phrase used on signs at climate change rallies beginning in Copenhagen in 2009.
