Aman Batheja
Texas Tribune
August 30, 2012
[…] Agenda 21 was signed by more than 170 countries, including the U.S., in 1992 and aims to encourage governments to promote environmentally friendly development such as preserving open spaces and discouraging urban sprawl. A variety of organizations around the world promote similar principles.
[…]
Dean Almy, director of the graduate program in urban design at the University of Texas at Austin, has taught classes on Agenda 21, and described the resolution’s 1992 adoption as an important moment in the history of urban design.
“It has to do with the way our cities are managed,” Almy said. “They’re basically saying things like, ‘It’s good to build more compactly. It’s more sustainable. It’s better ecologically. You use less cars, burn less fossil fuels.'”
[…]
The Republican National Committee adopted a resolution in January against Agenda 21 as “a comprehensive plan of extreme environmentalism, social engineering, and global political control.” The Texas Republican Party followed suit at its state convention in June, adding opposition to Agenda 21 to the party’s platform.
Republican Platform Opposes Agenda 21
LESLIE KAUFMAN
NY Times
August 29, 2012
The G.O.P. platform approved Tuesday in Florida included tough language on many expected issues like abortion, but also takes a stand on an issue that has historically been out of the party’s mainstream: Agenda 21.
“We strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty, and we oppose any form of U.N. Global Tax,” the platform reads.
Agenda 21 is a 1992 United Nations resolution that encourages sustainable development globally. Although it is nonbinding and has no force of law in the United States, it has increasingly become a point of passionate concern to a circle of Republican activists who argue that the resolution is part of a United Nations plot to deny Americans their property rights.
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