Europe doesn’t want to play with us anymore, and I don’t blame them.

“The European Union will no longer make trade deals with the United States if President Trump follows through on withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, according to a French official whose comments were endorsed by the European Commission.” – ThinkProgress, 06 February 2017

The planet’s second-largest polluter and we are not only refusing to help clean up our own mess, but determinedly making an even bigger mess.

“One of our main demands is that any country who signs a trade agreement with EU should implement the Paris Agreement on the ground. No Paris Agreement, no trade agreement. The US knows what to expect.” – Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, French foreign affairs minister

No word yet of any response from Trump … he probably didn’t understand what they meant, and anyway, he has been too busy worrying about who did or didn’t clap for him at his State of the Union Address to actually consider such trivial things as whether our nation will lose one of our biggest trading allies.

And in other environmental news …

• The state of Idaho has decided to remove all references to climate science from its science education standards. Way to go, Idaho … keep those kids in the dark and don’t let them know the dirty little secret that we are killing our planet.

• Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, is still trying to drum up support for his 5-year offshore leasing program that would open up the entire eastern seaboard to offshore drilling. This despite the fact that the governors of 15 of the 16 coastal states are against the plan.  According to Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, the plan “underscores how disorganized and uninterested this administration is in preserving our coastline or stewarding our public lands.”  Yep, pretty much..

• Nebraska State Senator Tom Brewer has proposed a new bill that would restrict wind power development in the state and end the designation of wind power as ‘renewable.’ “Wind energy is not Nebraska Nice. Wind energy is a scam that hurts people and animals, wastes billions in tax dollars, and isn’t ‘green’ energy by any definition of the term.” Oh for Pete’s sake!  Wind energy is one of the least polluting sources of energy available.

• Trump wants to eliminate the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency with a strong record of improving public safety. The goal seems to be to give a boost to the nation’s petrochemical industry as part of its “energy dominance” agenda. The agency is charged with investigating major chemical fires, explosions, leaks, and other accidents. Nothing too important there, right folks?

• Oil and gas companies are suing municipalities that pass ordinances banning drilling and other types of industrial activity. Say what?  But it’s even worse.  Federal judges are sanctioning the lawyers who represent the small towns trying to protect the environment, imposing financial penalties.  (More about this one at some later date)

And that, my friends, is the latest in environmental news.  You may wish to spend  some time outdoors today, for I don’t know how much longer we will be able to breathe out there if this keeps up!