U.N. and CA environmental activists push agendas

United Nations buildingApril 1, 2013

By Warren Duffy

In 2009, President Obama was preparing to attend a U.N. Conference in Copenhagen. The conference subject matter was “Climate Change.” That was a switch. The phrase replaced “Global Warming” as the U.N.’s primary environmental threat.

So Obama expected Congress would arm him with a cap-and-trade plan to show America’s leadership in fighting for a safe and clean environment.  Even though his fellow Democrats then controlled both houses of Congress, he left for Copenhagen empty handed.

California was not that fortunate as cap and trade and a very strict environmental program did come to California.  In November 2012, the first California cap-and-trade auction took place. At the same time, the California Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit, calling the cap-and-trade plan an “illegal tax” and demanding it be terminated. The auction and stringent environmental regulations are under the direction of the California Air Resources Board.

In December 2012, the U.N. Conference on Climate Change was held, ironically, in the “greenhouse gas” polluting nation of Qatar. The conference launched a campaign to extend the stringent U.N. Kyoto Accords of 1997. The campaign would include the “Agenda for the 21st Century,” usually called just “Agenda 21.”

Specifically, the climate activists have set as their goal to enact a much more extensive treaty extension by 2015. It would take effect in 2020, complete with an international cap-and-trade program.  Make no mistake, action like that will devastate the Western economy.

Damages

Second, the U.N. activists instituted at Qatar a climate “Loss and Damage Mechanism.” This makes the developed nations of the world, including the United States, liable for environmental “damages” to Third World countries.  Those countries still “developing” will be able to sue the wealthier nations of the world because the U.N. claims inclement weather and a poor environment from greenhouse gases are the direct result of industrial pollution from those affluent nations.

Never before has such a troubling scheme been suggested or approved at any U.N. conference.  How it will work is anybody’s guess, but the details are expected to be part of the comprehensive 2015 U.N. plan.

Finally, the Qatar Conference established a U.N. Green Climate Fund. Hillary Clinton, then the U.S. secretary of state, committed $12 million from U.S. taxpayer dollars to the fund.  The fund would be underwritten by the developed countries of the First World, with generous contributions awarded to Third World countries for assistance in developing green energy.

The themes of a “redistribution of wealth” and a “sustainable environment and economy” have been a constant at the U.N. since the first Earth Summit at Rio in 1992.  With a majority of U.N. nations still considered Third World countries, the majority of voting members are eager to divvy up money and punish the nations of the West for their industrial success.

California cap and trade

In California, the voices are multiplying to stop the environmental regulations and abusive overreach of power that continue to damage the once Golden State. The third quarterly cap-and-trade auction is scheduled for May 2013. The first two were in Nov. 2012 and Feb. 2013.

Optimistically, Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Legislature anticipated a $1 billion windfall from the first two auctions, squabbling needlessly among themselves on how they would spend this cash.  Unfortunately, the November 14, 2012 auction brought in $176 million.  That auction would have probably garnered much less had Edison International not made a bidding mistake, purchasing 72 percent of the available credits up for auction.   

Undeterred, CARB staged a second auction on Feb. 19, 2013, netting $223 million. Bottom line: instead of netting $2 billion out of the first two auctions, California’s windfall was about $400 million.

More regulations

CARB continues to issue more stringent regulations as new phases of the cap-and-trade plan are introduced.  Every year more businesses are forced to participate in the four-times-a-year bidding.  California now has more environmental laws than any other state in the Union.

Is there any wonder why businesses are either fleeing the state, or taking a second look at opening their doors in sunny California?

Further, a stealth U.N. organization, the International Council on Local Environmental Issues, has snuck into California cities and towns. Bypassing local governments, ICLEI has created 14 global regions around the world, with their American U.N. office located in Oakland.

Many citizens of California have become aware of the ICLEI back-door activism and have demanded their local elected officials withdraw from the U.N. organization and abandon the globalist environmental agenda.

On March 19, 2013, the citizens in the Town of Danville asked that participation in the One Bay Area Regional U.N. Agenda 21 Plan be ended.  In the end, the locally elected officials listened, but ignored their own citizens’ pleas and passed the ICLEI plan.

Similarly, even in Orange County, the city of Aliso Viejo has invested $400,000 researching a grandiose sustainability community plan the, “Green City Initiative.” Actual motto: “It’s all about GREEN. It’s all about the FUTURE.”

The plan has also drawn objections from city elected officials and local community citizens.  The final vote on the plan has now been postponed twice.

Is it “We the People” who are in charge of America and California — or the United Nations?

Warren Duffy is an award-winning talk show host, columnist and author, with an Honorary Doctorate in Theology from the California Pacific School of Theology. Check out his new book, “The Green Tsunami: The Tidal Wave of Eco-Babble Drowning Us All.” 


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