Agenda 21: What is a sustainable community?

The term “sustainable community” sounds warm and fuzzy. Who could possibly oppose a sustainable community? “Sustainable” means something that lasts – or is sustained - forever. When the term is applied to “community,” one might conclude that a sustainable community is one that will last forever. One who draws such a conclusion in today’s world would be wrong, terribly wrong.

The term “sustainable community” is an offspring of the term “sustainable development,” which was coined by the World Commission on Environment and Development back in 1987, and refined in Agenda 21, adopted by 179 nations (including the U.S.) at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Among the first recommendations found in Agenda 21 is the recommendation that each nation establish its own program of “sustainable development” to implement all the recommendations in the 40 chapters of Agenda 21. President Bill Clinton complied with this recommendation when he issued an Executive Order to create the President’s Council on Sustainable Development.

What the term “sustainable development” really means is development that is dictated by, or otherwise approved by government. The term “sustainable communities” means communities that are dictated by, or otherwise approved by government. Those who doubt this reality are invited to read Chris Dodd’s Livable Communities Act (S-1619) and then read Agenda 21. There will be no doubt where Mr. Dodd got the ideas for his Bill.