Secretary of State John Kerry was in Vienna last week for the stated purpose of “amending the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs,” or hydrofluorocarbons, a key chemical component used in amenities like air conditioners and refrigerators. But according to the Obama administration, staying healthy and cool during the grueling days of summer is commensurate with the atrocities being committed by Islamic State jihadis.

“Yesterday, I met in Washington with 45 nations — defense ministers and foreign ministers — as we were working together on the challenge of Daesh, ISIL, and terrorism,” Kerry asserted on Friday. “It’s hard for some people to grasp it, but what we — you — are doing here right now is of equal importance because it has the ability to literally save life on the planet itself.”

For the record, in its “Tips for Preventing Heat-Related Illness,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website suggests: “Stay indoors and, if at all possible, stay in an air-conditioned place. If your home does not have air conditioning, go to the shopping mall or public library — even a few hours spent in air conditioning can help your body stay cooler when you go back into the heat.” But the government now wants to ban the chemical that makes air conditioning possible.

Kerry continued, “In Paris, we, the world, came together to set a goal of limiting the Earth’s warming to well below the magical number of 2 degrees centigrade and we even dared to suggest we try to get to 1.5. Amending the Montreal Protocol, my friends, to phase down HFC could help us avoid a full one half of a degree centigrade in that challenge. It is an enormous proportion of what we are trying to achieve. The magnitude of this single action … cannot be overstated.”

If that’s the case, you can head over to change.org and sign the “Remove air conditioning from all US State Department property” petition. Who knows, maybe a few days of profuse sweating in what should be a comfortable environment will change Kerry’s and his staff’s minds. As the old adage goes, be careful what you wish for.