by Charles Battig , MD Piedmont Chapter VA Scientists and Engineers for Energy and Environment

The Successful Case For Removing ICLEI And Cool Counties From

Albemarle County, VApresentation

Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VirginiaOctober 22, 2011

byCharles Battig, MDPiedmont Chapter

VA Scientists and Engineers for Energy and Environment

What Is ICLEI?International Council for Local

Environmental Initiatives, founded in 1990

relabeled in 2003 as“Local Governments for Sustainability”

Goal is to Implement The U.N.’s Agenda 21

Aug 2011

Agenda 21 Document

“A comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally, and locally by organizations of the UN, governments, and major groups in every area in which humans impact the environment”RIO 1992

Note: RIO+20 is next year

Aug 2011

Agenda 21• The United Nation’s world-wide plan for the 21ST

Century from the 1992 UN’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• A handbook designed to regulate every human activity using the benchmarks of “sustainability,” “environmental consequences,” and “biodiversity”

• Written by UN bureaucrats, government officials, non-governmental agencies (NGOs), and environmental activists to achieve population control, wealth redistribution, and social justice

Aug 2011

The U.N. Sustainability Viewpoint

“Land…cannot be treated as an ordinary asset controlled by individuals and subject to the inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership…contributes to social injustice.”*

*U.N. Habitat 1 Conference , Commission on Sustainable Development ,Vancouver, Canada 1976

Biodiversity And Environmental Impact Become The New Benchmarks

• U.N. derived policy contradicts the U.S. Constitutional/unalienable rights of its citizens

• Ownership of private property was seen as a core component of the U.S. Constitution by the founding fathers

• A gradual erosion of private property rights by land use regulations based on “sustainability” is embodied in Agenda 21 policy

U.N. Agenda 21 Goals Embedded In The U.S. By President Clinton In 1999

Aug 2011

Don’t Scare The Folks• United Nations Environment and Development

Forum Speaker Gary Lawrence (former Clinton advisor) in reference to local AG 21 concerns:“we call our processes something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management, or smart growth”

• The social planners have been adept in using other such language as: “Resilient Cities,” “Regional Visioning Projects,” “STAR Sustainable Communities,” “Green Jobs,” “Local Visioning,” and “Consensus Building”

Aug 2011

President Obama Continues The Federal Intrusion

• June 2011 President Obama establishes the “Rural Council” by executive order

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide administrative support

• All major federal agencies will participate• The stated goal: “to improve the quality of life in

rural America”• “I am from the federal government, and am here

to help you”

2007–Albemarle Joins “Cool Counties”;2007-Al Gore’s Climate Claims Thrown Out In

England As “Political Propaganda”

“Cool Counties” Climate Stabilization Declaration

• A 2007 Sierra Club initiative• Objective: Counties are to resolve to reduce

regional greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050• Why? In response to the unproved claim that

manmade greenhouse gases are causing detectible climate change

• My Question: How does one measure “the climate”?

CO2 Up; Global Temperatures DownWhy The Panic Over Emissions?

Aug 2011

What Are The Objectives of “Sustainable Development”?

• Objectives include the linking of economic , social, and environmental policies in order to reduce human consumption, achieve social equity, and preserve biodiversity

• It is predicated on alarmist claims of human caused destruction of the environment

• This global goal is to be achieved using central planning techniques at each level of government to regulate private property ownership and individual freedom

• Central governmental control is the aim; “sustainability” is merely the pretense for public consumption

May 2011 13

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) (The Gold Standard Of

Environmentalists’ Policy), Speaks:

“We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy…One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore”*

*IPCC lead author and chairman of WG 3, Dr. Ottmar Eden-Hofer , November 13, 2010 interview

Raising Public Awareness In Albemarle County

• Following a presentation by Donna Holt, October 2010, our Jefferson Area Tea Party (JATP) agrees that defunding ICLEI would be a Tea Party objective for 2011

• The JATP “National Issues Forum” is presented as an open, public education event October 29, 2010

The Warm Up

The Main Event

Making Use Of County Board Of Supervisors’ Protocol

• The County Board of Supervisors holds two public meetings each month

• A nominal two to three minute talk time is available to the public for “Items not on the Agenda”

• The audience is not just the BOS, but others in attendance

Initial Reaction From One Albemarle County BOS Member

• What U.N…I don’t see any U.N. in County documents

• A Tea Party conspiracy • Tea Party infiltration into County Government• Everyone knows that there is a “climate

change” consensus• Climate skeptics are climate change deniers• ICLEI membership costs only $1,200 per year

ICLEI Is International

U.N. Secretary General Says So

Local Agenda 21 Is Global

22

Local Agenda 21, ICLEI, And The U.N. All On The Same Page

ICLEI Is In Virginia At The State Level

ICLEI USA : “Initiated in 2007, the Virginia State Climate Protection Network consists of local governments from across the state that are taking critical and innovative steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop in a more sustainable and just manner”

May 2011 24

“Leveraging” the U.N. Goals in the U.S. Education System

U.N. Sustainability In U.S. Classrooms

50+ U.N. IPCC Scientists Disavow IPCC Faulty Manmade Climate Claims

Identifiable Consensus

2011: What Has Been Learned Since 2007?It’s The Sun, Cosmic Rays, and Clouds

It’s Not Just All About Carbon Dioxide Equivalents

science Not Personal Opinion

The First Success

• June 8, 2011: The Albemarle County BOS votes four to two to defund ICLEI after hours of tumultuous public comment

• The BOS votes to defund and withstands a packed auditorium of environmental activists, UVA students, and liberal politicians booing and catcalling Tea Party members speaking to defund ICLEI

ICLEI “Drop Outs” Growing• Carroll County, MD• Spartanburg, SC• Georgetown, TX• Carver, MA• Montgomery County,

PA• Edmond, OK• Norman, OK• Clallam County, WA

• Garland ,TX• James City County, VA• Amador County, CA• Pinellas, FL• Oklahoma City, OK• Albemarle County, VA• Lexington, VA• Sequim, WA

The Next Success

• September 7, 2011: The BOS votes four to two to rescind their 2007 “Cool Counties” resolution

• Why?• Answer: The majority felt that Albemarle

County regulations should originate in Albemarle County, and not be based on outside advocacy organizations

“Growing Smart” Cookbook

Planners As Social Activists

“Sustainability” Buzz Words• Climate change• Climate protection• Mountains & critical

slopes• Riparian buffers• Best management

practices• Biofilter • Energy Star• Public/private

partnerships

• Floodplain• Impervious surfaces• Raingarden• Safe yield• Stream buffer• Stakeholders• Visioning projects• Vehicle miles traveled • Watershed• Wetland

Planning Away Private Property Rights

• Activist groups pressure the local government to act to save the environment and climate

• Decision making committees are formed• Influential members of the community get to be

“stakeholders”• Policies are developed by unelected individuals and

special interest groups• The elected officials are presented a final report

said to represent the expert “consensus”

The Thomas Jefferson Planning District 10

• The 23 Virginia Planning Districts are a creation of the 1968 Virginia General Assembly

• A form of unelected, shadow government, funded by tax and grant monies

• The mission: “to promote the orderly and efficient development of the physical, social, and economic elements…by planning and encouraging and assisting governmental subdivisions to plan for the future”

May 2011 37

H.U.D. Sustainability Grant

The “1998 Sustainability” Document

If Not ICLEI, Will It Be UVA Graduate Students Using You For A Term Project?

Aug 2011

Elections Are The Key

• Continued protection of private property rights are only one BOS election away from a return to a progressive majority

• Although ICLEI is defunded, the County staff mindset is still favors ICLEI related policies

• The Thomas Jefferson Planning District has $1 million from H.U.D. and three years to build their case for implementing their “sustainability” reforms in the County and City Comprehensive Plans

My On-Line Librarywww.climateis.wordpress.com