Over the past week and a half, world leaders have been meeting in Bonn (Germany) to continue discussion around the Paris Agreement (or Paris Accord). Remember, back in June of this year, President Trump announced that his intentions were to pull the United States from the Paris Agreement as soon as possible.

Updates At Bonn From Politico...

While the rest of the world heads away from depending on coal for the production of energy, the Trump Administration is promoting coal on the international stage as shown below in the excerpt:

ADMINISTRATION'S FOSSIL FUELS PITCH FALLS FLAT: The Trump administration made few friends with its promotion of fossil fuels and nuclear energy on the sidelines of an international climate change conference Monday, POLITICO's Emily Holden and Kalina Oroschakoff report from Bonn, Germany. Protesters interrupted the only public event planned by the Trump administration, a panel of White House aides and industry officials arguing that fossil fuels would be around for decades but could be made more efficient to address climate-related concerns. "This panel is only controversial if we choose to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the realities of the global energy system," White House energy aide George David Banks said.

Some diplomats were dismayed that the U.S. would appear in Bonn to try to bolster American coal sales. "There's no such thing as clean fossil fuels. ... We can't move to the future like that," Tuaoi Uepa, a delegate from the Marshall Islands, said, describing the event as "ridiculous." Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was blunter: "Promoting coal at a climate summit is like promoting tobacco at a cancer summit."

Trump's political appointees also appear to be getting the cold-shoulder from the official State Department negotiating team, Bloomberg Environment reports . The formal COP23 talks are focused on technical issues around implementing the 2015 Paris agreement, and the career diplomats representing the U.S. in those seem primarily focused on nitty-gritty technical priorities such as preventing developing countries from dodging strict transparency requirements. Bloomberg reports the political appointees are being housed in a hotel an hour away from the conference, rather than downtown with the rest of the delegation, and have been frozen out of bilateral meetings with countries including China and Fiji. "They don't want us here," one political appointee told the news service.

The United States has been dependent on coal for a LONG time. Over the past couple of decades, the United States along with other nations have been diverting investment into other forms of energy. Renewable sources of energy are the up and coming in the investment world. Previously, I wrote a blog post detailing this simple fact. And that should be a big indicator for the leadership in the United States. Even Congressional leaders understand this but are still quiet in order to let Americans speak through the ballot box.

Even India -- who has not had the chance to enjoy the full benefits of the coal industry has started to shift away from depending or using coal to generate energy. With this realization in mind, the shift toward renewable energy should be obvious. Furthermore, the fact that the United States sent representatives to Bonn (Germany) for climate talks with the intention of promoting coal and nuclear power sources should be shameful -- if not present us to the rest of the world as a 'laughing stock.' My co-worker is a native German and she reads obsessively (U.S. and German news) reports that the remainder of the world is laughing at the United States.

We should therefore not be surprised by the statements in the excerpt above, regarding the realization that the political appointees who attended were housed far away (over an hour) from the conference site. The fact that the rest of the world "does not want the United States" to attend the conference is a big slap in the face. Wake up United States. Wake up President Trump. Wake up Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The Department of Energy is currently headed by Energy Secretary Rick Perry who has the following views regarding coal and nuclear:

ON AUTOPILOT: Sean Cunningham, the head of the Energy Department's policy office, held firm to agency talking points Monday when he defended Energy Secretary Rick Perry's controversial grid resilience plan at a National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners gathering in Baltimore: Coal and nuclear plants "came to the rescue" during the 2014 "polar vortex"; the grid is a "paramount national security issue"; and that "both of these resources need to be revived, not reviled," he said. When state commissioners asked about cost estimates, Cunningham countered with a response about the potential cost of not rescuing economically struggling plants. And when asked about whether the grid plan should be narrowed to a particular set of plants necessary for resilience, Cunningham basically said the proposal was narrowly written.

The press didn't have any better luck. When reporters gathered around him, one asked why DOE officials like to reference the polar vortex. "Please just read the text of the NOPR and the accompanying letter [covers] all this," Cunningham said before taking off.

The excerpt above is actually no surprise given that Energy Secretary went before Congress last month and promoted coal and nuclear as a "back up plan" by citing the 'polar vortex' of 2014. The video of that testimony along with comments was embedded in a blog post found here.

Over the last 10 months, President Trump has clearly demonstrated that he does not understand the Paris Agreement nor does he understand climate change. I am not putting down on him. I am suggesting that he surround himself by professional scientists along with others to educate himself on the current threat, future threat, and how the threats pertain to the world at large. I would expect the same of any politician and administrator hired to consult or advise an elected official. At least adding scientists to the cabinet would balance the viewpoints out.

Additionally, if President Trump had consultants who were offering advise which was in line with the rest of the world, the following protest of the U.S. remarks would not have happened. Below is a video which was taken from the 'Washington Post' from the climate talks at Bonn. The President of the United States should be embarrassed about the event unfolding in the manner that it did. The protesters were correct to voice the words -- Keep Coal In The Ground:

Conclusion...

In closing, for those readers who have not been following the developing story with the Paris Agreement and the participation (or lack thereof) of the United States, below is a list of blog posts from this year. Click on any of them. Read the content and form your own opinion on the Paris Agreement. Should the United States withdrawal? Should the United States stay in the Paris Agreement? These are questions which need to be answered. I would argue that the world has collectively accepted the threat of climate change and decided to invest in alternate energy sources.

1) Friday - May 19, 2017:

Paris Climate Agreement Is A Start Toward The Renewable Energy Future

2) Tuesday - May 30, 2017:

World Goes Left, While Trump Leads Right - On Climate - Why?

3) Wednesday - June 14, 2017:

Trump Goes Right On Paris Agreement, Part Of U.S. And World Head Left

4) Tuesday - July 4, 2017:

President Trump's Understanding of the Paris Agreement

5) Friday - July 7, 2017:

What Is Going To Be Discussed At The G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany?