Sustainability Agenda 21 doesn't sustain

Sustainability = wealth redistribution from poor and middle class to rich

By Donald Hank

Agenda 21 purports to promote sustainability, but it does just the opposite. In fact, it would seem as if the real motive behind this plan is to redistribute wealth, the way Marxism always has done — by destroying it.

Here is what Item 2.3 of the Agenda says, for example, about trade

2.3. The international economy should provide a supportive international climate for achieving environment and development goals by:


(a) Promoting sustainable development through trade liberalization;

(b) Making trade and environment mutually supportive;

In stark contrast, here is an example of what actually happens when you liberalize trade to meet these guidelines:

When the EU started a free trade deal with Panama essentially in compliance with Agenda 21, the first thing that happened was that fish and vegetables started to be shipped by air to Europe. The overregulation of fishing in Europe and the attendant high cost of seafood on the continent made this highly inefficient shipping method economically feasible. However, air shipping not only costs much more than standard maritime shipping but, more importantly, uses several times more fuel, so according to their own theory, this liberalized trade emits more carbon into the atmosphere.

The second thing that happened was that the fish prices doubled here in Panama (my wife and I now rarely buy fish as a result).

At the time the free trade negotiations were being mulled, the EU tightened regulations on fisheries in Europe, nearly ruining the trade. European Fishermen are now forced to throw back over-quota caught fish dead.

The traditional idea of economizing, saving fuel, and saving resources has thus all been thrown out the window with this "sustainability" policy.

But there is more to item 2.3. It goes on to discuss finances:

(c) Providing adequate financial resources to developing countries and dealing with international debt;

(d) Encouraging macroeconomic policies conducive to environment and development.

Simply put, the implementation of these ideas gave the Western world our financial meltdown because, again, the hidden agenda was wealth distribution. The banks that "failed" were doing what government had, in some cases, demanded — giving loans to the underserved communities (under the CRA). Even without being forced to do this, banks learned from example that doing this would bring the blessings of the government. Sure enough, the bankers got juicy bailouts for being irresponsible! Oh, and the poor? Many of those who got loans they obviously couldn't afford lost their homes.

An example of such a financial policy from an environmental standpoint was Obama's draconian response to the BP oil spill, namely, a ban on offshore exploration. But if this ban had been aimed at saving the environment (in accordance with item (C) above), as it purportedly was, then Obama would not have turned around and lent Brazil billions of dollars to drill in their offshore waters. But he did. So it wasn't.

In Europe, the wealth redistribution agenda was also evident when the richer countries were forced by the central government bosses to bail out poorer but less responsible countries, such as Greece and Ireland.

How did this help the poor countries?

It didn't. Their credit ratings plummeted and they are now paying twice as much interest on their debt as the richer countries. And the entitlement addicts on the street rampaged, causing millions of dollars in damages in a country that could scarcely afford this.

Just these simple illustrations show that the whole agenda is about 100% fraud and has hurt the countries it aimed to help, not to mention the rich countries that were forced to supply the "help."

The agenda has, however, helped one of the richest men in the world, billionaire Spiros Latsis , who grew even richer off of a bailout paid for by European working stiffs. His story was typical as the ultra-rich everywhere grew richer from government largesse.

In the last century, the world was given a lesson thanks to the failures of major communist regimes, and that lesson was: wealth redistribution by government does not work. We had no sooner failed to learn that lesson than we were given a new one: government-imposed "sustainability" is a fraud.

I hope and pray we learn this lesson better than the last, although experience teaches that getting a lesson is not the same as learning a lesson. Not by a long shot.

© Donald Hank