VOLUME 5, NUMBER 5 -- JUNE 20, 2000
"A transformation of beliefs and expectations as well as social adaptive capacity is required" to equitably secure water for everyone on the planet. So states the World Water Council in their "Framework for Action: Achieving the Vision" page 6.
The "Ministerial Declaration of The Hague on Water Security in the 21st Century" was signed by the Ministers and Heads of Delegation on Wednesday, March 22, 2000. The goal of this program is to further the United Nations' agenda--specifically Chapter 18 of Agenda 21. (http://www.worldwaterforum.org/index2.html)
A news article dated April 10, 2000, stated: "The World Water Forum was convened last month in The Hague, ...present were representatives from nearly 130 countries and NGOs from across the globe. They joined in declaring that 'every person, everywhere, should have access to enough safe water at an affordable cost.'"
Secretary of State, Madeleine K. Albright explained the U.S. efforts:
"Achieving that lofty standard is a challenge with many components, each requiring a group effort. Within the U.S. Government, the State Department chairs an interagency water team. More than ten Departments and agencies participate, including DOD. And the skills and expertise of each are essential.
"But our team is only part of a far larger group. For we work with partners that include global and regional institutions such as the UN Development Program, World Bank and OSCE. We also rely on the knowledge and dedication of NGOs such as the World Resources Institute, the World Wildlife Fund and many other groups."
She states: "Americans may be proud of the $20 billion that USAID has invested in water resources management over the years .... More broadly this morning, in recognition of Earth Day and the spirit of last month's World Water Forum, I am proposing a global alliance for water security in the 21st Century. I have in mind not an alliance such as NATO that is limited to certain countries and comprised of governments alone. But rather a less formal alliance open to all who comprehend the urgency of working together to conserve transboundary water, manage it wisely and use it well." (emphasis added)
Yes, we Americans should feel the pride as our government "...with the support of Congress, the State Department is contributing $2 million to start a new fund within the UN Development Program to improve regional water management..."
The "larger group" she mentions is defined by the World Water Council in the following quote:
"The Framework for Action project will be an important GWP (Global Water Partnership) activity in 1999/2000. It will require close liaison and integration with parallel initiatives and associated key stakeholders, including:
"Organizational structures to meet these needs at global, regional and national levels have been established." (page 7, Framework for Action: Achieving the Vision)
And what does all this mean?
"The largest task is going to be managing the allocation of water for direct use to meet human needs and protect the environment"
Lets state it this way: the United Nations and assorted green and not so green organizations will allocate water as they deem necessary. Further, the United Nations views the needs of mankind no more important than that of the toad. This point is confirmed in the doublespeak wording of the next quote:
"Is the environment as a claimant for water competing with human uses? Clearly not. The environment (broadly defined) is the foundation on which the entire ecological and hydrological systems function and thus must be seen as part of the reality we are dealing with. Human uses are the ones to be arbitrated, but in a context that ensures the robustness of the underlying eco-logical and hydrological systems--and their ability to regenerate from the vagaries of seasonal or long-cycle fluctuations and continue to sustain the growing human and biological populations that will rely on these systems for their existence." (emphasis added) page 27
How will this effect the individual?
"Water is everybody's concern. Water management involves every person on this planet--from the simple act of how water is used by individuals to the more direct involvement of everybody in how water is used in the home or on the job." page 49
Here it seems appropriate to comment that the most productive country in the world (the US) has relied largely on the individual to make decisions about the proper use of resources, but examples abound throughout this century illustrating that government involvement generally exacerbates the problem instead than solving it.
We cannot, with our limited resources, determine the extent to which the United Nations has gained control over the worlds water supply, but the following bits of information should give you some idea.
In reading the following quote from "Whole Earth" (Winter 1997), keep in mind our earlier quote that: "Organizational structures to meet these needs at global, regional and national levels have been established."
"It's all about water"
"The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, the largest in the US, has, under the leadership of Bishop Tom Shaw, reconfigured itself into a system of Deaneries based on watersheds rather than arbitrary political grids. Steve MacAusland, the Episcopal Environmental Coalition's New England representative, was instrumental in lobbying for this bioregional change. Today he spreads the message to church youth of mixed cultural, racial, and economic backgrounds by guiding canoe trips that explore diocesan rivers and watersheds. 'Our message,' he says, 'is that we are all connected by God's gift of water, rich or poor, black, red, yellow, and white, upstream and downstream, wilderness, rural, urban, human, and otherwise. If we are going to get the church involved in stewardship of Creation, we need a starting place everyone can agree on, and that is water."
"....Using MacAusland's Massachusetts model, the EEC plans to develop a watershed program throughout the country, bringing churches together around the gift and issue of water. "
The contact is listed as: Episcopal Environmental Coalition Programs, Steve MacAusland, 121 Sandy Valley Road, Dedham, MA 02026; 617/329-7335, fax 617/329-658, commed@world.std.com.
Tuesday, January 25, 2000
Pickens buying water rights
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal T. Boone Pickens is buying up ground water rights in the Texas panhandle:
"Mr. Pickens has quietly acquired the water rights to tens of thousands of acres in the Panhandle, including his own 24,000-acre ranch," according to the story in the newspaper's "Texas Journal" section.
Other oil men are also buying up water rights. The Wall Street Journal couldn't get a comment from Pickens and all we got was a recording about an unlisted phone number.
Quoting attorneys and water board officials, the newspaper reports that an effort is under way to buy up rural water and sell it to large Texas cities. The Houston-based Metropolitan Water Company already is trying to sell water to fast-growing cities.
The recent political moves to privatize the Birmingham Water Works may be part of a much larger picture. Of course, evil deeds contemplated among two or more men (commonly called conspiracies) are generally the thoughts of an over active imagination - uumm - perhaps. A quote from Jefferson could sum it up: "Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread."
"A transformation of belief" - a thought taken from the beginning of the last article is most applicable for the beginning of the next subject.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has published a Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity. Its self description is: A Complementary Contribution to the Global Biodiversity Assessment. The Global Biodiversity Assessment was compiled by the United Nations from 300 contributing 'experts.' This book of advice was written as a stipulation of article 25 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity can be downloaded at http://www.unep.org/Biodiversity/
"It is also a call by the United Nations to transform the slogan 'we the peoples' from words into action. This is the only way in which we can become more receptive to the needs of the citizens of the world. This is the only way we can become more flexible in seeking innovative solutions. This is the only way we can capitalize on the abundant human resources and capabilities available within the global society." Page XI
The opening remarks conclude with this statement:
"We must resolve to weave the life-sustaining customs of all diverse groups on earth into a resilient fabric that will protect the sanctity of all life." page XII
Some of the contributing authors find it unacceptable that: "...[what] many fundamentalist Christians oppose most strongly is the idea that humans are related to animals. They cannot accept that other creatures have their own reasons for living, and do not exist solely for the benefit of humans, since the Bible tells them that they have dominion over these other organisms." page 198
Another author puts it this way:
"For some Christians, the way forward lies in a rediscovery of distinctive teachings, life-cycles and insights contained within their tradition. For others, it requires a radical rethinking of what it means to be Christian. For yet others, there is still a struggle to reconcile centuries of human-centered Christian teaching with the truths [?] which the environmentalists are telling us about the state of the world we are responsible for creating. [?] For all of them, the core remains the belief in the Creator God who so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should have eternal life (John 3:16). In the past, we can now see, this promise of life eternal has often been interpreted by the churches as meaning only human life.
"The challenge to all Christians is to discover anew the truth that God's love and liberation is for all creation, not just humanity; to realize that we should have been stewards, priests, co-creators with God for the rest of creation but have actually often been the ones responsible for its destruction; and to seek new ways of living and being Christians that will restore that balance and give the hope of life to so much of the endangered planet." page 613 (emphasis added)
The conclusion ends with:
"Where do we begin? How can spiritual and cultural values be incorporated into planning and policy decisions? Can any of this be assigned monetary value?" page 549 The concluding paragraph states: "We must, therefore, allow the "Voices of the Earth" to become our intellectual and spiritual guides, so that we too can relearn what they know and practice: that the future of humanity depends upon the maintenance of the mosaic of biological, cultural, linguistic and spiritual diversity" page 550
"The Government will endeavor to improve the morals of the ....people. But on what moral code, gentlemen? Morals, too, must have a root. What to you appears to be moral appears to others immoral, and what to you seems immoral is for others a new morality. The State, for instance, says: The thief must be punished. But many citizens of the nation reply: The property owner must be punished, for ownership of property is in itself theft. The thief is glorified, not condemned. The one half of the nation says: The traitor must be punished: the other half considers treason to be a duty. The one half says: The nation must be defended with courage: the other half regards courage as idiotic. The one half says: The basis of our morality is the religious life and the other half answers with scorn: The conception of a God has no basis in reality. Religions are but opium for the people"
That speaker was none other than Adolph Hitler.