In that moment, our President vowed to get revenge, even if he had to take down every single living species to do so.

It’s a distraction

Let’s talk about Trump (Part II)

It happened. Trump pulled out of the Paris agreement, making the US the only non-participant in the 195-nation accord, along with Syria and Nicaragua. (note: Nicaragua didn’t sign because they thought the agreement didn’t go far enough, and they “didn’t want to be an accomplice to taking the world to…death and destruction.” Syria didn’t sign because, well, they’ve been in civil war for the past 7 years.) The US is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide, and we relinquished our responsibility to clean up after ourself.

That said, this really hasn’t changed anything.

Like, this is all just flashy political melodrama. A big metaphorical middle finger. A distraction.

We aren’t even allowed to leave yet — Article 28 of the Paris agreement makes it clear that withdrawal is allowed only 3 years after the agreement is entered into force, and would only become effective a year later. This times the real withdrawal date for November 4, 2020, the day after the 2020 election. Thanks Obama.

Even if we were to leave the Paris Agreement, the value of the agreement had always been as an aspirational goal. The implementation itself was completely voluntary, impossible to monitor, and had no consequences whether or not a country met its goals. The only real difference…