Forget Paris

Remember when the United States signed the Paris Agreement to combat climate change?  Well, now you can forget it.  You can really forget it.

Trump made good on his promise from June 2017 to withdraw the United States from the accord by starting the process of quitting the second he was allowed to do so, this past Monday.  America now stands alone as the one country that officially does not care about the future of the planet.  Once again, I call for the United States to be swiftly and severely punished for its great ecological sins.

And don't start talking about the "WASICs" - the We Are Still In Coalition members of American businesses and governors who plan to implement the Paris Agreement as if we were still in it.  Trump and his stooge Mike Pompeo are likely working overtime on how to stop companies like Ford or governors such as Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Andrew Cuomo of New York, or Gavin Newsom of California - or even Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who recently came to the realization that taking climate change seriously in Trump's newly adopted home state is good for Florida and good for business - from following the rest of the world.  Corporate rights and states' rights don't apply when they contradict Republican administrations.

And don't start saying that we're only 4 percent of the population and the rest of the world can save the planet without us.  The truth is, we're the second-largest carbon emitter after China, and we have - no, had! - the most influence in getting the rest of the world to act in response to a crisis.  The Paris Agreement will go the way of the Kyoto Protocol of twenty years ago - in the dustbin of history, along with several international accords that flopped because American interests were against them.

But remember whom not to vote for when a hurricane hits the Northeast next Columbus Day, as one almanac has predicted.  Oh, that's right - the northeastern states already vote Democratic (except Pennsylvania, which hasn't been hit by a hurricane in over 45 years!), and Sandy Mark Two will be seen by Pat Robertson as divine retribution for people who cross Dr. Sinister in the White House.

Did I happen to mention that the greater New York area could get a big snowstorm next week - in the middle of fall?  More proof that the climate is being disrupted.  But hey, who cares as long as there's a booming stock market?

Oh, well, maybe another hurricane will whack the Carolinas in time for the election.  But the Southeast will probably still vote Republican, especially if the Democratic nominee is Mayor Pete.

And this is why I support a global economic and cultural boycott against the United States to make us change our evil ways, baby.  Economic and cultural boycotts always work.  Look what they did to apartheid in South Africa.

Short of that, though . . . war's over, man.  The Paris Agreement is dead. So is the planet. And where the planet is going, America will get there . . . first!

How ironic.

Regime Change Before Climate Change

The climate change summit in Poland concluded earlier this month with a plan by all of the nations in attendance - except the United States - to implement the Paris Agreement.

What's the plan? How the hell should I know?  Why the hell should I care?  Because as long as the United States plans to withdraw from the climate accord in 2020, nothing the rest of the world does will matter.  The U.S. even joined oil producers such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Russia (now I get why Putin wanted Trump in the White House!) in trying to block at the conference a resolution saying that climate change is a serious problem.

The United States is, last time I checked, the second biggest carbon emitter after China, and we Americans decided a long time ago that if fighting climate change means changing the way we live, we weren't interested.  Even with more Americans willing to do their part to cut carbon emissions, many more still are not.  I can eat poultry hamburgers, rely on natural light, maximize the fuel economy in my five-cylinder Golf (I couldn't get a four), and take public transit and/or walk when possible, but too many people eat steak thrice a week, use electric lights they don't need, and go everywhere in SUVs.  And no matter how many states and companies pledge their allegiance to WASIC (the We Are Still In Coalition, the coalition of Americans honoring the Paris Agreement), it's likely never going to be enough.

Unless Donald Trump is voted out of office in 2020.

And shame on those in the Democratic leadership who attempt to keep a climate hawk from getting the party's 2020 presidential nomination like they did in 2016 (I ain't talkin' about Bernie Sanders!).  If we don't get Trump voted out, we will be the ecological outlaw of the world and we'll deserve to be boycotted - boycotted, like South Africa in the days of apartheid.  And it may already be too late by then.  Sorry to bum you all on Christmas Eve, but the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come is pointing his long, bony finger and showing us a future even scarier than Scrooge's - a world where Florida has fallen into the sea and where California is a burned out desert.  But these are only the shadows of . . . what may be.    

Let's change our administration before the climate changes.