LONDON — Despite some setbacks during his U.S. visit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came out swinging on climate change action in a colorful manner unique among major world leaders.
In a speech that careened between references to Greek philosophers and muppets, Johnson said it was time for the world to “grow up” and said that urgent action was needed to address climate change as he sought to shore up support ahead of a major conference he’s hosting in Glasgow, Scotland, next month, which he called a “turning point” for humanity.
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Johnson has long been famous for his provocative — and often incendiary — rhetoric first as a columnist and then a politician in which he savaged opponents and played to his right-wing constituents. But on Wednesday night in New York, his skills were laid down in the unlikely service of addressing the pending climate catastrophe.
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In the address to the United Nations General Assembly, broadcast in Britain in the early hours on Thursday morning, Johnson said that if radical action isn’t taken, “we will see desertification, drought, crop failure, and mass movements of humanity on a scale not seen before, not because of some unforeseen natural event or disaster but because of us, because of what we are doing now.”
“And our grandchildren will know that we are the culprits,” he said.
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This was Johnson’s final event in the United States before flying back to Britain on Thursday.
His trip was arguably overshadowed by other setbacks, including President Biden downplaying the prospect of a U.K.-U.S. trade deal happening anytime soon. Johnson had long presented the deal as one of the key prizes of Britain leaving the European Union.
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Johnson may have also further inflamed tensions with France, which is upset about the military pact known as AUKUS, when he told reporters on Wednesday that France should “prenez un grip” [get a grip] and “donnez-moi un break” [give me a break] — a favorite phrase of his when he breaks into Franglais.
But during his speech at the United Nations, where leaders can talk about a range of issues, Johnson focused his entire 20-minute speech solely on climate — a remarkable conversion for someone who once ridiculed “eco doomsters” and invoked climate change deniers.
He described the world as “this precious blue sphere with its eggshell crust and wisp of an atmosphere — is not some indestructible toy, some bouncy plastic romper room against which we can hurl ourselves to our heart’s content.”
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He also said that the coronavirus pandemic was proof of “gloomy scientists being proved right.”
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He singled out the United States and Denmark for their cash commitments to a $100 billion-a-year climate fund, a key goal of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, that is aimed at helping poorer countries cut carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change.
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He also praised China for its pledge to end international financing of coal-fired energy plants and applauded Pakistan for promising to plant 10 billion trees.
Far more radical action was needed, however, to keep the global average rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). On current trajectories, he said, temperatures would rise by 2.7C (4.9F) or more by the end of the century.
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He used characteristically colorful language in his speech — clearly written by him — to argue that the change that was required need not be hard.
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“When Kermit the Frog sang, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green” I want you to know that he was wrong. It is easy, lucrative and right to be green, although he was unnecessarily rude to Miss Piggy I thought.”
On Thursday morning, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy were trending on social media in Britain, and one user wrote, “Boris Johnson made a speech yesterday telling everyone to ‘grow up’ hours after insulting an ally and including a reference to a tv show puppet.”
While some found his language amusing or accessible and welcomed his enthusiasm for the cause, the reaction from the opposition Labour Party was scathing.
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“After a year of diplomacy, the Prime Minister’s “year of global leadership” seems to have collapsed into insulting Kermit the Frog,” tweeted Lisa Nandy, the party’s point person on foreign affairs.
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“Boris Johnson just can’t help himself, turning a serious speech to UN General Assembly into a Daily Telegraph column,” said Kevin Maguire, a columnist at the New Statesman, a left-leaning political magazine.
The past has shown, however, that Johnson’s unique rhetorical flourishes ensure that his words are usually listened to in Britain — for better or worse — a great deal more than soberer styles of speech.
Johnson concluded his moment on the podium with a reference to the ancient Greek writer Sophocles who said that he was often quoted — by Johnson — as “saying that there are many terrifying things in the world but none is more terrifying than mankind, and it’s certainly true that .？.？. our species is uniquely capable of our own destruction.”
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“But if you look at the Greek, what Sophocles actually said .？.？. was that man is ‘deinos’ and terrifying isn’t quite right as far as a translation for ‘deinos.’ What Sophocles really means is mankind, humanity is awesome — both terrifying but also awesome.
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“We have an awesome power to change things and to change things for the better, and an awesome power to save ourselves.
“In the next 40 days, we have to choose, the world has to choose what kind of awesome we’re going to be.”
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