Kerry's speech at his "ocean summit"

[MBS]

4. some of his remarks the second day were even better in terms of political comment

Here are his remarks introducing the afternoon panel
http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/06/227692.htm

My favorite part (bold highlights are mine):

Over the past day and a half, some of the world’s very best and most knowledgeable scientists and most influential leaders in both the public and private sectors have been here telling us about inspiring efforts that are underway to address various challenges of our ocean, and importantly not just defining the challenges but laying out the solutions, the things we know we can do.

What’s interesting about the challenges we face, I might add – and is not just about the oceans – but so many of the challenges that are confounding the world today actually have pretty obvious solutions that are staring us in the face. It’s not as if we’re sitting around scratching our heads saying, “How do we solve the problem?” It’s really a question of, “How do we find the political will? How do we get people to move – to sometimes move back very vested, powerful interests that like the status quo because change means reinvesting or changing the way you do business, even though in the long run it will save everybody a lot of money and a lot of grief?”

It’s pretty obvious about where we are. The solution to climate change, which is a serious problem with respect to the oceans, as we have all seen, is very simple, actually. It’s called energy policy. Energy policy is the solution to climate change. . . The irony of it all is that the energy market that is staring us in the face is a $6 trillion market with four to five billion users today, which will grow to nine billion users over the course of the next years. Just think about that. It’s the mother of all markets.

And what we need are the triggers that excite the investment and excite the marketplace itself to move. It’s happening in some places; we all see that – some solar breaking through, more and more windmills. . . . But not happening fast enough, not happening significantly enough. . . .

So there’s not – there is nothing that we’re looking at that doesn’t have a solution – acidification, nitrate overload, dead zones. We have to change the politics. And that’s part of the mission that’s got to come out of here.. . the summary of everything that we’re going to hear today is that we have to change the political will and start to make the decisions that put the money into enforcement, into science, into all the things that can actually save the oceans. . .

Sec. Kerry is doing such a fantastic job..