Olympic Agenda – another move to “sustainable-ize” the North Olympic Peninsula
Editorial by Sue Forde
Citizen Review Online
April 5, 2011
Sequim, WA - The residents of the North Olympic Peninsula in Washington State will be contending with yet another bout of radical environmental activism which attempts to implement the ideas of the United Nations Agenda 21, which includes “sustainable living” – ie, absolute control over what individuals can or cannot do with their own property. The coming workshops to promote the idea for the “Olympic Agenda” is “an emerging collaboration with the residents of the Olympic Peninsula to shape a future of great communities and healthy landscapes,” according to promotional material pub out by the Cascade Land Conservancy, the primary organization behind the plan.
According to an email, "Cascade Land Conservancy is working with residents of the Peninsula to create The Olympic Agenda, a 100-year vision and immediate action plan for the lands, communities and economy of Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson and Mason Counties.
"Drawing on the experience of creating The Cascade Agenda, the strategies outlined in this roadmap for the future will provide a non-regulatory guide to conservation and community growth. Through partnerships with community leaders and businesses, Cascade Land Conservancy will ensure vitality in the resource-based economies and spectacular habitats of the Peninsula while simultaneously creating greater economic growth and quality of life," the email states.
Called the “Olympic Agenda”, the Cascade Land Conservancy (CLC) “and Olympic Peninsula residents” are developing a “100 year vision for Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson and Mason Counties.” The goals stated are to “harness the ‘best thinking of today’s leaders’ to ‘ensure the Olympic Peninsula’s working landscapes and rural economy continue to thrive’, the communities grown in a ‘sustainable’ fashion’ and ‘quality of life’ is maintained over the next 100 years.
In the “First Look” brochure, the Conservancy says: “At its heart, the Olympic Agenda is about "conservation, about protecting those rivers, creeks, ridges and woodlands that make the Peninsula the wonderful place that it is. With an economy that sustains and communities that serve, we will have the capacity to achieve our conservation vision for working lands, rivers, streams, creeks and estuaries, and those vital, natural special places we love".
“Various groups on the Peninsula – Jefferson Land Trust, North Olympic Land Trust, the Hoh River Trust, Capitol Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy to name just a few—have already accomplished significant conservation in the region,” the brochure states. “The Cascade Land Conservancy itself owns about 6,000 acres of estuary lands on the Peninsula, acquired through a long-time partnership with the Wildlife Forever Fund…. The Peninsula has an incredible legacy – 2.1 million acres already in public hands.”
The buzzwords “sustainable” and “quality of life” are giveaways to the reference to the United Nations Agenda 21, which is being implemented across our nation in our communities. (See Sustainable Development).
In a “Livability” segment, the Cascade Land Conservancy (CLC) says: “Today, more than ever, we are faced with environmental, social, and economic challenges that will define our generation, shape our future, and test our resilience. Our region has established visions for the future, but frequently barriers impede the realization of our collective goals.” In a Design for Livability Conference scheduled for April 7, the series will “provide unique and dynamic perspectives on building more livable, walkable and healthier cities. We will explore the emerging conversation about sustainable cities and their fundamental link to our health and well being.”
There are a plethora of words and phrases that point to the United Nations Agenda 21-Speak that has been growing more and more prevalent in our communities. Although the concept has been around for more than 20 years (the “sustainability” idea was first promoted internationally by Maurice Strong in 1992 at the Rio Conference), it has now been inserted into the bureaucratic thinking sufficiently to take actual steps to implement it.
If you take time to review only one document to get a sense about what’s coming, take a look at “The Olympic Agenda: A First Look”.
Words like
“dialogues”,
“quality of life”
“working landscapes”,
“grow in a sustainable fashion”,
“common goal of a vision”,
“fundamentally change”,
“working toward a common hope for our children”,
“region”,
“action must be taken now”,
“run the risk of missing the opportunity”,
“unmanaged sprawl”,
“carefully balancing economic, community and environmental needs”,
“Economically-based conservation strategies,”
“sustainable”,
“a collaborative big tent approach”
“Protecting our land on a scale never seen before in the region”
“smart…conservation strategies”,
“creativity and innovation”,
“To protect our working and natural lands”
“must stop our unceasing sprawl”,
“communities must be complete,”
“livable”
“the process”
“conserve the landscapes”
“creating the new Northwest small town for the 21st century”
“connected to the urban cities”
“future generations”
“wild and natural”
“neighborly”
“create a better future for generations to come”
“cohesive region”
“collective vision for the region”
“broad coalition”
“fundamental change”
“living document”
“vision of the future”
“environmental sustainable”
“give meaning to the legends we teach our children”
“Cooperation with public and private landowners” (ie public-private partnerships)
“urban agriculture centered on community gardens”
“cost of sprawl”
“Sprawling development”
The Olympic Agenda folks want to “help” those of us who live in the rural communities. One way noted is setting aside even “more” land that will not be usable, but “preserved”. Here’s what they say: “The Jefferson Land Trust’s work on farmland preservation, the North Olympic Land Trust’s work in conserving more than 2,000 acres and the Grays Harbor 2020 Vision reflect the effort already under way.”
The Olympic Agenda talks about “The Loop” – referring to the highway around the Olympic National Park dotted with towns. “The Loop reveals a challenge that stems from the geography of the Peninsula – it is difficult for cities and towns to cooperate as a ‘cohesive region’ when most are hours apart. The goal is to create a “collective vision” for the “region”.
The Conservancy organization states that “the people” are working together to create a “collective vision for the region”, “grounded in the belief that a broad coalition can achieve fundamental change”. What “fundamental change” are they talking about?
The document states that “Two years ago, civic organizations, academic institutions, businesses and government agencies and many community leaders and ‘passionate’ citizens from Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson and Mason Counties began discussions about creating an Olympic Agenda, the ‘visionary idea’ to look out 100 years in order to maintain the quality of life enjoyed now for the next 100 years”.
It goes on to say: “The Olympic Agenda: A First Look is the first step in the direction of this ‘collective vision’. It will be a living document with constant refinement as we learn to work together to strengthen our future.”
The Conservancy offers some history of the Olympic Peninsula – then gives their perception as to what happened to change a once-prosperous area. “Farming, timber production and fisheries throughout the Peninsula have historically formed the center of the economy. Yet each has experienced setbacks in the past few decades— farmland lost to development, declining fish runs, the changing structure of the timber industry and new competition in a global marketplace.” What they don’t say is that regulations and radical environmentalist activism have been a root cause of these declines. The Spotted Owl debacle; closure of land for development and the Growth Management Act which doesn’t allow people to build on anything less than 10 or 20 acres in some areas (and these areas are “not” farmland!); and tribal netting and protection of species that devour fish which account for fewer returning. These are not even mentioned.
One vision of the Olympic Agenda is the creation of the “New Northwest Town,” a “community that preserves the best of small towns – close knit and neighborly – with the robust commitment to connectivity with the global economy using such tools as high-speed internet.” A “long-term, collective perspective is what the Olympic Agenda is all about.”
The Agenda states: “Conversations held as part of these first steps clearly indicate that we can no longer thrive as isolated communities. What is not as clear is what future we are headed towards. By identifying common challenges and working together to address them, we can better assure our children that our communities will be economically resilient, environmentally sustainable and offer a high quality of life.” Isolated communities have and can continue to exist, it’s true that none of us know what the future holds, yet the Conservation (dare I say it – overseers), turn around and contradict themselves by saying “they” can “better assure…”
Take time to read the entire document and with other links I've posted here, and draw your own conclusions. What it boils down to is that these are globalization ideas, being foisted on communities as supposed “localized”. If you take time to read, “Our Common Future”, posted at the UN’s website; UN Agenda 21, also posted at the UN website; and ICLEI,* a way to implement Agenda 21 at the local level (the City of Sequim and Clallam County are both members, according to their website), you will quickly see which direction this latest assault – under the guise of “we’re here to help you…” is going.
Knowledge is power. Educate yourself, and make notes. Contact your elected officials and let them know what you have learned for yourself. Get together with other individuals and discuss possible action to take in speaking out at public meetings.
Understand that the folks who want to “fundamentally change” our form of government are moving toward a system which has never worked anywhere in the world where it’s been attempted. Read and understand our US Constitution and the Washington State Constitution or look up the Constitution of your State. These are great documents, intended for individual liberty, not for “collectivism”.
For more information about “Sustainable Development”, click here.
Read UN Mountains and UN Sustainability.
*The organization's name is 'ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability'. In 2003, ICLEI's Members voted to revise the organization's mission, charter and name to better reflect the current challenges local governments are facing. The 'International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives' became 'ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability' with a broader mandate to address sustainability issues.
Sustainable Development has infiltrated major industries and government agencies. Do your own research - google "sustainable development" and get started in educating yourself about this antithesis to our U.S. Constitution, individual liberty and the freedoms that our Founding Fathers has envisioned for us.