EPA infiltrates the Boys & Girls Clubs

You have to hand it to the Environmental Protection Agency: It sure is thorough. Hardly a stone goes unturned, or a group of young minds unnoticed, in its push to bring the green message to as wide an audience as possible. The latest find?

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

“EPA is partnering nationally and locally with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to introduce children’s environmental health information into the youth service organization’s educational programs,” according to a Jan. 27 release from EPA.

And of course, the endeavor starts with taxpayer dollars.

“A $100,000 grant from the EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection is funding the national development and implementation of the curriculum,” the release continues.

(Insert groan here). Here’s an idea. How about a few of us taxpayers band together and provide, say, $200,000 for EPA not to bring its particular brand of environmentalism – complete with climate change horror stories of dying polar bears and  melting icebergs and starving populations in South Africa – to our youngest and most impressionable? Seems a fair trade. EPA gets funding -- not only $200,000 in hush funding, but also the original $100,000 grant -- and can continue trouncing constitutional and private property rights to regulate land, water and air use as always. In return, EPA backs off the boys’ club and lets our kids play basketball. Win-win?

Win-win.

Besides, don’t the kids already get this message in the schools – from EPA, no less? There, the federal agency promotes such programs as clean drinking water, healthy indoor air quality, Smart Growth policy, and a host of nebulous-sounding topics: Environmental Education. Protect the Environment at School – Information for Students. Managing Your Environmental Responsibilities: A Planning Guide for Construction and Development.

Enough already. We get it. The kids get it. Pollution bad; polar bears good. Now how about a game of hoops?