One of the most foolish things that the U.S. and Canada are doing right now is to allow the extraction of fossil fuels from our lands for the purpose of exporting them to foreign countries.

The U.S. is still the primary cause of Climate Change. It is the U.S. responsibility to show leadership in lowering carbon emissions. We are getting some minor control over our local emissions. This is decreasing the profits of the fossil fuel companies, especially the coal industry. They, rather than moving their investments to green energy projects, want to continue with their old product and look for new consumers. This is much like the cigarette industry when the U.S. finally started decreasing cigarette consumption. Cigarettes were then aggressively exported to other countries where U.S. regulations wouldn't be working on lowered consumption.

The planet doesn't care where the excess CO2 comes from. So, for the fossil fuel industry to increase exports by more than our lowered consumption moves us from making progress to losing ground. The planet cannot afford it, and we shouldn't be allowing it.

See, also The Thin Green Line.