Read the video transcript here
Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister:
“And when Kermit the frog… Kermit the frog… sang: It is not easy to be green.
Do you remember that? "
It almost sounds like: Do you already know him?
But this is not a comedy, it is an official speech by the British Prime Minister to the UN General Assembly.
It was about the climate crisis and how to deal with it.
Regardless, Johnson studies the doll from the muppet show extensively.
Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister:
“I want you to know he was wrong.
He was wrong.
It's easy.
It's easy, lucrative, and right to be green.
I also thought he was being unnecessarily rude to Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog. "
Once in the mood for weird comparisons, Johnson also added:
Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister:
“If we stay on course, temperatures will rise by 2.7 degrees - or more, by the end of the century.
And it's not just about the ice floes that will melt like the ice in your martinis here in New York ... We will see desertification, drought, crop failure and mass movements of people on a scale we have never seen before. "
The head of government still managed to get around the threatening topic - and switched to serious at the right moment:
Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister:
“We are moving to the critical turning point in less than two months, in just over 40 days.
Then we have to prove that we have the ability to learn and grow up and to finally take responsibility for the destruction we are bringing not only to the planet but also to ourselves. "
Johnson is talking about the UN climate conference.
It starts on October 31st in the UK: in Scotland's capital, Glasgow.
But back to the Kermit picture again.
Johnson used this to express his optimism.
Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister:
“It's easy to be green.
We have the technology, like we said earlier when I was a kid.
We can do this.
In 40 days we have a choice. "
And who knows, perhaps many listeners will remember this weird comparison rather than some serious and dry appeals.