This article by Samuel Cochrane originally appeared July 23 in the Bennington Banner.
DORSET — Dorset community members will meet next week to discuss the future of their town. The Vermont Climate Economy Communities Program, led by the Vermont Council on Rural Development, will lead discussions during the kickoff event Wednesday. The program, named Dorset Tomorrow by the local planning team, will begin with a community dinner and discussion at The Dorset School that evening.
The kick-off will take place at the Dorset School at 130 School Drive.
“Dorset is fortunate to have been awarded the chance to have Vermont Council on Rural Development visit and gather our residents for what should be an interesting and rewarding process” said Dorset’s town manager Rob Gaiotti in an email.
The program provides a forum for community discussion on future economic vitality and affordability in a time when climate change is already impacting businesses and individuals in Vermont. Energy efficiency, transportation, renewable energy and sustainable development will be on the list of discussion topics at the kick-off event.
Read full article at the Bennington Banner.
(Fair use with written permission from the New England Newspapers Inc.)
While lengthy and, perhaps, overly detailed, Lynn Edmunds’ comments are spot on and Dorset administrators will do well to heed every word.
Caveat Emptor
And thank you, Mr. Edmunds.
The Vermont Council on Rural Development is coming. They are a nonprofit organization whose method of operation greatly resembles the way Vermont’s Regional Planning Commissions interact with local communities when establishing Town Plans. First there are the local meetings and the survey of residents to determine what they would like to see in their Town. This is followed by the forming of a local committee or commission that is charged with the development of action items to pursue the newly established agendas. At this point Town government has become invested in these causes and while they may have been selected by citizens, most likely they were from a menu of topics the regional planning commission is promoting and came from outside the community.
There was a time when communities were in charge of their own destiny, agendas came from within their town and were voted on by its citizens. We governed ourselves as needed based on real local issues and were not forced to subsidize causes beyond our control or boarders. Our government has changed incrementally over the last 50 years and as it has evolved it has become increasingly more top down and manipulative. Central planning has taken over our institutions of self governance which is now administered by subtle solicitation of agendas from Regional Planning Commissions, nonprofits and other special interest groups.
Town plans are guided by State planning manual module 1 that states Vermont Law requires the inclusion of 12 elements in any adopted municipal plan and also encourages inclusion of other topics like public health or climate change. We are assisted in this task by our local Regional Planning Commission who is charged with inserting these agendas into local government.
While VCRD mirrors our regional planning commissions method of operation they are more of a community organizing organization. Their job is to expand on and expedite agendas given Towns by their Regional Planning Commissions and if possible solicit more through participation and involvement of town citizens.They claim to convene venues that empower citizens to contribute their ideas, dreams, goals and strategies but whose ideas are they when they provide the categories and topics? One of VCRD’s stated goals is to model effective change at a rapid rate in two Vermont communities each year but to understand the impetus for their existence we must look at the United Nations and their global Agendas 21 & 2030.
At the United Nations Earth Summit in 1992 then president George H. W. Bush signed on to Agenda 21 a non-binding action plan on the environment and development, but because it was not a legally binding treaty the United States Senate did not debate or vote on it, however the House of Representatives Resolution 353 supported its implementation. The following year an executive order known as The President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) was formed and the concept of a Sustainable America was born, VCRD was an offspring of that conception having been conceived in 1992. But the ground work for this concept had been laid many years earlier around 1968 when Vermont established Regional Planning Commissions throughout the state to work with local governments.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in 2015 established 17 Sustainable Development Goals to further build on UN Agenda 21; this intensified effort was dubbed Agenda 2030 and set a time frame of 15 years for enacting these goals (SDGs) by participating member countries. That same year VCRD spun off The Vermont Climate Change Economy Council (VCCEC) which would acknowledge their commitment to UN Agenda 2030 and ensure our participation of its goals.
The Vermont Planning & Development act, 24 VSA chapters 117 gives a historical timeline for planning in our state that began in 1908 and has been updated or revised as many as 18 times through 2015. Good planning can be an important part of how our legislature responds to changing times as they create Laws and Regulations that govern and protect us, but there is a danger in using it as a basis for enacting Laws and regulation that come to us from outside our communities and seek to insert their Agendas in our name. This is when as a people we become governed by special interest and not protected by our Republic.
The existence of VCRD & VCCEC bears testimony to the global goals of United Nations Agendas 21 & 2030 and the quest to establish them here in Vermont should give us all cause to reflect on how they could render the protections of our Republic useless over time.
It is easy to become focused on a vision that promises so much good and hope for humanity while not seeing the dangers lurking in such noble causes, but are we willing to sell the soul of Liberty to obtain them and even if we are is the utopia they promise even possible? If we ignore the commitment and connection between VCRD & VCCEC with UN Agendas we do so at our peril.
Over 200 years ago we established a Republic based on sound principles and documents to protect each of us as individuals, this set us on a clear course to prosperity that will continue as long as we embrace and understand it.
If we allow ourselves to be distracted by the Visions of UN Agendas 21 & 2030 we would surely be losing our sense of direction and eroding our ability to protect our Rights, Liberty and Freedom by neglecting the purpose of our government.
When these people come to town make sure you understand they bring their agendas with them but will insist they were your idea, while letting you know they can help you implement them.
Watch your budget Dorset!