United Nations' Agenda 21 Comes to Rural America

By: John W. Wallace

I am sure that most Americans, including many residents of Columbia County NY (where I live) and other rural areas of America, have never heard of a United Nations' program called 'Agenda 21.' Even if they have heard the name, they are most likely unaware that Agenda 21 poses one of the greatest threats to their individual liberty, freedoms, property rights and even their country's sovereignty.

The main action arm of Agenda 21 was founded in 1990 and was called the 'International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives' or ICLEI. It is now called ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. According to its website, ICLEI now has over 1,220 local government members who are committed to sustainable development, in 70 different countries representing over a half a billion people. There are over 600 cities, town, counties and states in the USA listed as participants of Agenda 21 on the ICLEI website and the towns of Chatham and Clermont are two of them.

If you want to know why Agenda 21 poses such a threat to our way of life in America, and who is behind it, read these quotes from two of the founders, planners and supporters of Agenda 21:

1. "Individual rights will have to take a back seat to the collective." - said Harvey Ruvin, Vice Chairman, ICLEI. The Wildlands Project. (You can't get more communist than using the word 'collective' in a sentence).

2. "We must make this place (the earth) an insecure and inhospitable place for Capitalists and their projects - we must reclaim the roads and plowed lands, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness tens of millions of acres or presently settled land." - Dave Foreman, Earth First. (He's talking about humans who work for a living and build things - that's you and I)

The creators of Agenda 21 and ICLEI believe in Social Justice which is described as: "the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment." In other words, they are talking about the Redistribution of wealth, your wealth. They look at private property ownership as a Social Injustice since not everyone can build wealth from it. National sovereignty is also looked upon as a Social Injustice. This is all part of the Agenda 21 policy and their ultimate goal is to do away with private property ights and they want government to take control of all the land.

In city after city, town after town, village after village, county after county, across this great country, the same scenario is repeated. An individual, a representative of a local "green" organization, or a federal or state agency representative meets with a local government official and advises that he or she is working on a special grant designed to help local communities create a vision for a sustainable, greener future, that will be followed up with the development of a plan to convert that local vision into reality.

More often than not, the local elected officials who agree to participate in the grant studies and who eventually adopt these plans have never read anything about Agenda 21, and many have never even heard of the U.N. document, signed by President George H. W. Bush in 1992 that made America a member of the program. The people who approach local governments know all about Agenda 21, but if asked, they will usually claim that the plan they are working on has nothing to do with the U.N. or Agenda 21.

If the local government agrees to participate, it will usually pay a small fee for the "sustainable development consultant" to begin the research and to begin "facilitating" the process. The facilitator will also recruit and identify residents to become part of a local "comprehensive planning committee." They are carefully chosen from people who represent various segments of the community, but who are also known in advance to be sympathetic to the goals of Agenda 21. These are the people who will eventually take control of the planning committee meetings, insist that certain things must be included in the plan over the objections of other committee members, and who will eventually cause well-meaning, non-political community members to leave the committee, thereby giving them de-facto control over the planning process.

Of course, the local government officials are unaware that by signing an agreement to let the person conduct the study, that they have actually signed onto Agenda 21 and that their town, city, village or county will now appear on the ICLEI website. Most local residents will remain unaware of the implications of the new comprehensive plan and Agenda 21 until after it is promulgated in their own backyards in the form of a draft comprehensive plan.

Public meetings will be scheduled but unless an individual or group of individuals actually read the document and become aware of the threat it poses to property rights, and publicizes that threat, rarely will these meetings attract the individual private property owners who will be most directly affected. Care is always taken, however, to insure that supporters of the changes, including members of local environmental organizations and social justice organizations will be in attendance.

These public "comprehensive plan" meetings are designed to create a "sustainable vision" for the community. The next step is to convert an approved plan into a set of new regulations and ordinances that are enforceable with fines and other penalties. The comprehensive plans are always very long and complex so that few people ever take the time to read them, with the exception of the professional planners, elected and enforcement officials. Remarkably, the "sustainable vision" in every community contains essentially the same elements: restricted auto traffic; bike trails; walkable neighborhoods; integrated housing; high density urban boundary zones; conservation areas; new building restrictions; many new citizen committees, green belts; no-build areas; view sheds; and much more - all taken directly from Agenda 21.

Ironically, these comprehensive plans are more insidious than if the local government took property from private individuals via Eminent Domain. At least in Eminent Domain procedures, the property owners are usually compensated for their loss. Conversely, when local governments implement Agenda 21 "sustainable development" comprehensive plans through the use of zoning law changes and other land use regulatory actions, they devalue property, restrict off-conveyances, and otherwise erode property values, without the payment of any compensation to the property owners.

Agenda 21 will be 20 years old in 2012. George H.W. Bush (and 177 other world leaders) agreed to it in 1992. Bush Senior was the first world leader to use the words "New World Order" - and America hasn't been the same since. Although the U.S. Senate rejected the Agenda 21 Treaty, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order #12858, creating a Presidential Council on 'Sustainable Development.' This effectively pushed the globalist UN plan into America's large, churning government machine without any review or discussion by Congress or the American

people. How does Agenda 21 impact you? If you've purchased a new washing machine, you've already had some experience with it. The new eco-friendly washers provide too little water and clothes don't get washed (or rinsed) well. If you want a decent washing machine, get one now because soon, thanks to ICLEI programs, you'll be stuck with the eco-friendly variety - just as you've been stuck with phosphate-free laundry detergent and the new toilets that don't flush like the old ones.

Another ICLEI program - destined to be a hit with all in the future - will allow your local utility company to determine the temperature in your home through "smart grid" and "smart meter" technology. If it's too warm, they will be able to turn your thermostat down; if it's too cool (by their standards, not yours), they can turn the air conditioning down.

"That will never happen where I live!" You say? Well, if you go to the Agenda 21, 'ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability' website and find out. I found the names of two local towns, Chatham and Clermont, where I live in Columbia County NY. They are listed as members of ICLEI, as are Hunter, Saugerties, Albany and about 20 other towns and cities in New York State.

ICLEI Website: http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=global-members

Both the town of Chatham and the town of Clermont were asked how they became involved with Agenda 21 and ICLEI. Both towns indicated that they paid a very small fee for an individual to do some sort of environmental study for the town and both towns were unaware that they were listed on the ICLEI website or were participating in the UN's Agenda 21. Both towns are being encouraged to withdraw their membership from ICLEI.

IN CHATHAM

Before the 2009 election in the town of Chatham, the Republican candidates for town offices reviewed the new draft comprehensive plan and found that there were many proposed new zoning regulations that could drastically increase homeowners' taxes, cause them to pay a host of new fees, restrict the use of their properties and reduce their property values. They brought their case to the people with a mailer and personal visits to every household in the town. They identified every threat to personal property rights and referenced them by page number to the draft plan. This awakened the people to what was going on. In November of 2009, an overwhelming majority of town residents elected Maria Lull and Henry Swartz Jr. to the town board, mainly to protect the rights of the property owners and taxpayers as the plan begins to be implemented in the future. This was a win-win campaign issue.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Educate yourself. Go to http://wwwAmericanPolicy.org to find out about Agenda 21. Make handouts to give to elected representatives.

Become active: Go to your city, town and village meetings and listen for the Green/Sustainable/Environmental jargon used in agendas and policy discussions. Contact the Town Supervisor, Mayor and/or Town Board Members and ask if the government is a member of ICLEI. If they are, inform them of Agenda 21 and request that the ICLEI membership be canceled. Many town governments (like Chatham and Clermont) are not even aware they are participating in ICLEI activities and even if they are, most would not be familiar with the long term goals of ICLEI.

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