Volume 3, Number 2 -- March 20, 1998

WHEN WE EXAMINE THE SIMILARITIES WE CAN SEE THE CONNECTION

Locally, we are aware of the Birmingham Regional Planning Commission. We are also aware of the Region 2020 Initiative. In an earlier newsletter we showed that these two are definitely connected in spite of some efforts to deny it.

In looking around the country, we find that numerous "regional planning" entities have been cropping up over the last decade or so. This is indicative of the trend toward regional government, which we believe makes implementation of certain UN objectives easier, since these regional governments are generally not accountable to the voters within the region but are in the form of partnerships between legitimate governing bodies and other public or private entities.

One of these regional planning entities is the Thomas Jefferson District Planning Commission in Charlottesville, Virginia. We will use it to give an example of how these regional planning commissions (at least the ones we have looked into) work in concert with the United Nation's Agenda 21.

AGENDA 21: The plan of action agreed to by national governments at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. This global plan of action has 40 chapters and several treaties including the Biodiversity Treaty, a Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (27 Principles) and a section on forestry.

Chapter 28, of that plan of action is titled "Local Authorities' Initiatives in support of Agenda 21"., The chapter is a mere page and a half long. The following text will show just how far that Local Agenda has gone. Documents from three levels of government will be referenced: LOCAL = Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, Charlottesville, Virginia; FEDERAL = The President's Council on Sustainable Development, and: INTERNATIONAL = United Nations documents. The plan of action (generally referred to as Agenda 21) is being replicated across this country. The visioning process is usually the first step. The terminology may vary but the end results will be the same: United Nations Agenda 21.

The following Comparisons will, we hope, show you how the connections are made all the way back to Agenda 21.

• TJ = Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Council (part of The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission)
• PCSD = Presidents Council on Sustainable Development
• UN = United Nations

INTERGENERATIONAL

TJ - Full Benefits/Cost Accounting: "In a Sustainable Community achieving social, environmental, economic, and political health has inter-generational costs and benefits which must be weighed. In a healthy society benefits outweigh costs." (1)p7

PCSD- "The framework and indicators are intended to reflect the intergenerational nature of sustainable development, as well as the integration of economic, environmental, and social issues." and Emphasizing the intergenerational nature of sustainability, the Oregon Progress Board has said that "Failure to reach urgent benchmarks in the near term threatens our ability to achieve other, more fundamental benchmarks years down the road." (2)

UN- "41. Equity includes both intergenerational equity (relating to the rights of future generations and our obligations to them) and intragenerational equity (relating to members of generations existing today)." and "42. The principle of intergenerational equity reflects the view that as "members of the present generation, we hold the earth in trust for future generations," while "at the same time we are beneficiaries entitled to use it." 63/ All generations form a partnership that extends across time in relation to their human environment. The principle includes three components: quality, options, and access to the environment. These must be comparable across generations." (3)

HUMAN POPULATION

TJ- "1. To maintain a human population size that does not reduce the sustainability of the region.....2. To maintain a human population distribution that does not reduce the sustainability of the region.....3. To maintain a population composition that does not reduce the sustainability of the region. Distribution according to: I7:Age. I8:Race/Ethic diversity. I9: Income/wealth I11: Employment status."(1)p8

PCSD- "Population Distribution The President and Congress should authorize and appoint a national commission to develop a national strategy to address changes in national population distribution that have negative impacts on sustainable development,...." (4)p66 and "Achieve a geographic distribution of U.S. population consistent with the long term ability of environmental, social, and economic systems to support those populations"(4)p59

UN- "Population programmes should be implemented along with natural resource management and development programmes at the local level that will ensure sustainable use of natural resources,...."(5)p39 par. 5.43 and "An assessment should also be made of national population carrying capacity in the context of satisfaction of human needs and sustainable development, and special attention should be given to critical resources,...."(5)p37 par. 5.23

CARRYING CAPACITY

TJ- "X. CARRYING CAPACITY ANALYSIS....In addition, areas with a surplus of natural resources will also be identified. These areas with a deficit and surplus of resources, termed critical areas, will comprise the basis of recommended strategies for sustainable growth in the region.(1a)

PCSD- Local governments and counties can work together to use community impact analyses and other information on the environmental carrying capacity of a region as the foundation for land use planning and development decisions.(6)

UN-An assessment should also be made of national population carrying capacity in the context of satisfaction of human needs and sustainable development, and special attention should be given to critical resources, such as water and land, and environmental factors, such as ecosystem health and biodiversity.(5)p37 par. 5.23.

(Emphasis added)

1a. The Thomas Jefferson Study to Preserve and Assess the Regional Environment: Economic Growth Within the Capacity of the Environment To Support It, A National Demonstration Project, January, 1994

2. THE ROAD TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A SNAPSHOT OF ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES March 1997 http://www.whitehouse.gov/PCSD/Publications/Snapshot.html For more information, please contact the PCSD Secretariat by phone at 202-408-5296, by fax at 202-408-6839.

3. DEPARTMENT FOR POLICY COORDINATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Identification of Principles of International Law for Sustainable Development Geneva, Switzerland, 26-28 September 1995 Prepared by the Division for Sustainable Development for the Commission on Sustainable Development Fourth Session 18 April - 3 May 1996 New York

4. Population and Consumption, Task Force Report The President's Council on Sustainable Development U.S. G.P.O:1996-404-680:40004 phone 202 408 5296

5. Earth Summit Agenda 21, The United Nations Programme of Action from Rio.

6. Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity and a Healthy Environment for the Future,

Chapter 4: Strengthening Communities ISBN 0-16-048529-0 The President's Council on Sustainable Development phone 202 408 5296

The great and fatal flaw in the report is that it ignores the fallen nature of man and the history of human nature. We cannot document the complete report here. We will attempt to offer a representative sample. We believe the report that will come from Region 2020 will bear a great similarity.

• 1. To maintain a human population size that does not reduce the sustainability of the region.

• 5, 6 & 7. Every member of the community can obtain adequate daily nutrition; adequate, affordable clothing; affordable, adequate and safe housing.

Some of the sub-items under these are such things as: Number of people eligible for Meals on Wheels; number of non-commercial programs that provide low cost clothing; number of houses with sub-standard plumbing.

• 8. Every member of the community can achieve optimal health.

Some sub-items: percent of pregnant women receiving pre-natal care, in each trimester; infant mortality by race, income and age of mother; number and percent of schools that offer health education at all grade levels; number and percent of emergency room trauma visits, hospitalizations, and deaths due to exposure, lack of immunizations, malnutrition,etc.

• 12. Every member of the community who so desires can obtain work that provides just compensation, employment, mobility, and fulfillment. Provide training and support especially for those with the least access to employment.

• 13. Understand the relationship between industrial economy and the larger natural system of energy and resource exchange.

• 142: Median "Income" per capita calculated as:

(A) the region's value calculated according to the U.N. Standardized System of National Accounts (SNA),
+(B) Value of volunteer labor for which others are paid:
-(C) Change in police costs compared to base year, and
-(D) Pollution costs.

• 143: Median "Economic Wealth" per capita calculated as:

(A) SNA for Produced Assets;
+(B) SNA for natural assets;
+(C) Capitalized value of "income" (proxy for Human Capital);
+(D) Capitalized value of charitable contributions;
-(E) Change in capitalized value of payments for liability insurance as compared to base year, and
+(F) Net financial assets held by residents of region.

Notice the use of the U.N. Standardized System of National Accounts. This is a system where a value gets assigned to virtually everything. The view from your window will have a value assigned. A value will be assigned to the number and nature of non-human creatures within a region. These values are determined, not by you and me, nor even by our culture, but by the U.N. bureaucrats. Note also the term "Human Capital."

TRANSPORTATION

Goal: To facilitate the circulation of people, goods and services and information through integrated systems that minimize adverse impacts on natural systems and communities.

• 17. Construct a network of bicycle and pedestrian facilities within urban areas in accordance with the localities' Bicycle Plans.
• 18. Connect urban areas of the cities and counties with bikeways and walkways.
• 19. Reduce automobile and truck traffic volume and speed in residential areas for the safety of children bicycling and playing in these places.

(Sure, it's for the children's safety!)
• 20. Reduce single occupancy automobile trips within the region by developing attractive and economical mass transit alternatives.

Look for mass curtailment of personal use of gas burning vehicles. Why build a network of bicycle trails if they are not to be substituted for automotive traffic?

LAND DEVELOPMENT

• 25. Maximize the use and re-use of developed land by clustering and integrating to the fullest extent practicable business, industry, housing, recreation, and green space.
• 163: Ratio of employees that walk or bike to work versus the number that drive in single occupancy vehicles.
• 27. Define and incorporate the concept of appropriate scale in all development and land use decisions.
• 166: Number of miles of bikeway/walkway/low-speed-road connections between neighborhood, schools and services.

That is about all we have space for, but we trust you get some idea of the thoroughness with which your lives and activities will be planned for you.

For most Americans the concept of such control is so foreign they just deny that it can happen. We assure you, that unless vast numbers of the American public wake up to what is happening right under their noses, it can and will happen. And its coming will not be some gradual and painless transition.