A short video I recorded tonight on the topic of sustainable development and Agenda 21:
Sustainable Development, Smart Growth, and Agenda 21
“Individual Rights Must Take a Back Seat to the Collective” is the summation of the Agenda 21 AKA “Sustainable Development” movement. This is tragic, because I’m a big proponent of sustainability, and would like to paint this movement in the best light possible. Unfortunately, much of the push from the UN/ICLEI to adopt these practices are in direct conflict with basics of living in a free society. (USA for example) To give an idea of the scope of Agenda 21, here is a quote from a 1993 UN report. The article was entitled “Agenda 21:The Earth Summit Strategy to Save our Planet.”
Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by every person on Earth…it calls for specific changes in the activities of all people…Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all humans, unlike anything the world has ever experienced.
Some of the most alarming aspects of the Agenda 21 path:
- denies personal property ownership
- forces humans to live in packed cities, where resources can be delivered ‘more efficiently’
- views needs of all life and animals as equal in importance to the needs of humans
- restricts and controls all resources humans can use
For more information about the negative aspects of Agenda 21, visit the JBS website.
My thoughts on how to implement sustainability without implementing Agenda 21 style rules:
- consider all stakeholders in design projects (includes wildlife)
- minimize waste, minimize inputs
- work with nature, not against it
- observe, interact, adjust
- use and store energy closest to source
- operate on as local scale as possible, expand on a controlled front
All of the above suggestions come straight out of the Permaculture design system. In short, the answer to sustainable development is to implement Permaculture everywhere. The key contrast to this method and Agenda 21 methods is local control by stakeholders vs global control by an entity with desires to control every aspect of the planet. Local is better!
