More vindictiveness - and environmental damage

The current administration in charge of the United States is continuing its unhealthy obsession of undoing everything the previous administration achieved:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41556342

How vindictive. And bad for the planet. The current president and his party have long talked about this mythical "war on coal", so rolling back these environmental protections is part of that as well as getting revenge on the previous administration.

We all share this one planet, despite what they think. The damage done to it affects us all.

Cash and the teacher

I was out with someone this afternoon and one of the places we went to was the Arboretum part of Nottingham. While there, we encountered a pro-environment festival that was being held; I had read the other day that it was on but I forgot about it.

Two odd events occurred: The first was that I found a £10 note on the floor. I didn't want to keep it but at the same time, if I reported it as missing, there was too high a chance that someone who never owned it would claim it. As such, I gave it to one of the charities at the festival. I didn't want it so why not give it to charity? At least the money will benefit someone by my giving it away.

The second was that I encountered my old mathematics teacher from Pre-Access! I saw him at a distance as he walked towards us and when he became close to us, I recognised him as my teacher. He was with his other half and did not appear to see me. Not a big deal - I hope he had an enjoyable afternoon, too.

Paris climate agreement redux

So, it happened:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40127326

The US President announced that America would indeed be withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. His official reason is that it protects American jobs and workers and prevents the country from becoming a laughingstock but his election made it a laughingstock.

The world - and even Americans in general - does not really care about the protection of coal mining jobs in Kentucky and West Virginia nor about the profits of the president's corporate cronies, which is the real reason he's carried out his "promise" to withdraw. That, and because he wants to undo everything President Obama achieved.

This childish and vindictive administration really needs to be reigned in and removed; unfortunately, while his party controls Congress and lives in its own reality, that's not likely for now. His supporters are still no better, thinking that the US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is a victory against "global elites" (it isn't).

Paris climate agreement

So while the current President of the United States seems set to pull the country out of the Paris Agreement, which is about reducing the world's greenhouse gas emissions and overall pollution, China and the European Union will be issuing a joint statement to stress the importance of the deal:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40106281

If the United States were to withdraw, it would only serve to further undermine its credibility, more so coming off the back of the president's disastrous meeting with NATO. Then again, the goal of this president seems to be to undo everything the former president did and to permanently trash the United States' reputation.

Pipelines

So the winner of the 2016 presidential election in the United States has now approved the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, both of which President Obama cancelled:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-expected-to-sign-executive-actions-to-advance-keystone-dakota-access-pipelines-234095

This, alongside an overall war that he seems to be waging against the EPA and the environment in general. The United States is being run by someone who believes in conspiracy theories, one such conspiracy theory being that the belief that climate change is, in itself, a conspiracy theory. How long is this going to go on for?

Steve Irwin - ten years later

Nearly a decade ago, I wrote this small tribute to Steve Irwin:

"Steve Irwin invested millions in lands. He did this to protect the environments that wildlife lived in. He should be remembered for that, and the other great achievements he did."

I cannot believe that it has been ten years since Irwin's death. I remember the day as though it were yesterday - I read the news in the morning and by the time the afternoon came around (on the US West coast, where I was located at the time), the Internet was almost impossible to navigate with all the people who were logged on at once reading up about Irwin.

When Irwin became famous, he often received criticism for emphasising entertainment over conservation but he used the former to aid with the latter while remaining true to his principles; Australia Zoo is part of that legacy as is the awareness he raised/people he inspired to become involved. He was most certainly a positive force in the world and he went too soon.

All these years later, thank you, Steve Irwin, for your conservation work and thank you to Terri Irwin for continuing it.

United States-China environment cooperation

I saw this article posted to President Barack Obama's Facebook page:

"Chinese cities pledge early carbon emissions peak under deal with U.S."

I am delighted that the United States and China are both working together to curtail the amount of pollution they each generate. The two nations might disagree on a variety of issues but it pleases me when they find common ground and that good feeling is further increased when it's on an important issue such as the environment.

I tend to dismiss comments that debate whether or not climate change is man-made because I think that reducing pollution is a noble goal in itself. Why would anyone want to live in a toxic world?