If you think the current Environmental Protection Agency is overreaching and infringing on the rights of citizens, small businesses and even in some cases, religious institutions, try to envision a world where the environmental police are not federal agents under the authority of men and women we can vote out of office, but rather international cops empowered by the U.N. Such an agency is one of the goals of the Rio 20 Summit, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in about two weeks.
Rio 20 celebrates the twentieth anniversary of Agenda 21, a globalist environmental action plan developed by the UN in 1992. All U.S. presidents have affirmed the goals of Agenda 21 since its creation. Earlier this year, in preparation for this conference, I began a series explaining Agenda 21 and its ramifications for Americans. For anyone unfamiliar with Agenda 21 I have included a link to the first post in this series UN Agenda 21 and Smart Growth--Transforming American Life.
The last twenty years have seen our culture embrace the ideas of sustainable, green living even though we increasingly do so at the expense of private property rights and individual freedoms and economic growth and prosperity. Now, Rio 20 continues us down the road of sustainability with over 50 recommendations for the world including the redistribution of resources and the creation of a powerful new international environmental agency, the U.N. Environment Organization (UNEO). The UNEO would take the place of the current UNEP. The UN Environmental Program is currently based in Nairobi and voluntarily funded by member nations, including the U.S. which according to the Office of Management and Budget contributed $22.9 million of U.S. tax dollars to the organization in 2010. Those funds represented just under 10% of the UNEP's budget. An Agency, however, is funded through assessments on members which are calculated using gross national product and national income. The U.S. rate of assessment is 22%, so as an environmental agency the UNEO would enjoy a much bigger budget as well as much more international authority.
Although all U.S. Presidents have affirmed the goals of Agenda 21, the Bush Administration opposed UN mandated restrictions on member nations and opposed the formation of an Agency with the power to make such restrictions. The Obama Administration has already signed the U.S. up for membership with one such organization, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) which, although not a UN Agency uses the same formula as the UN to fund agencies, which means that US tax payers have to pay 22% of the budget. Proponents of green agendas are now lobbying diligently for Obama to attend the Rio Conference. Although he has indicated that he will not, he has not apparently given a final answer, leaving the door open for him to change his mind and go at the last minute. US participation is so critical to the UN's goals for Rio 20 that on April 20, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Obama's participation in the event "crucial". On the same day, the Center for Global Development released, "Energizing Rio20: How the United States Can Promote Sustainable Energy for All at the 2012 Earth Summit." The paper calls on the U.S. to find large investors for sustainable energy projects worldwide. (Can anybody say "Solyndra?")
The Rio 20 Summit will not create new international treaties--just a huge police power with the express goal of redistributing the world's resources and the ability to rob us of our sovereignty. This is a dangerous agenda and one we should not be supporting in any way.
The posts this month will examine the goals of Rio 20 and some of the ramifications for the U.S. and our way of life. The conference takes place June 20-22.
Alexandra Swann is the author of No Regrets: How Homeschooling Earned me a Master's Degree at Age Sixteen. Her newest novel, The Planner, about an out-of-control, environmentally-driven federal government, will be released June 30, 2012. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/.
