In Response to Obama Speech of Climate Change, Bramson Wants UN NGO ICLEI Back in Westchester County

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson has once again invoked the Tea Party to criticize his opponent in the race for Westchester County Executive.

In a statement lauding Barack Obama’s speech this week in which the President outlined new limits on energy production he intends to enforce through executive orders, Bramson called on Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino to renew Westchester’s membership in ICLEI, an international organization created under and operating within a United Nations system to advance Agenda 21

“The Astorino administration…withdrew Westchester’s membership in the preeminent municipal and county organization devoted to combating climate change, because of wild conspiracy theories popular with the Tea Party,” said Bramson.

Bramson recently accepted the endorsement of the founder of the Westchester Tea Party.

“To reinvigorate our regional efforts to combat climate change, Mr. Astorino should renew Westchester’s membership in ICLEI right now,” he continued.

Westchester County has not been a member of ICLEI since December 31, 2011.

Under former County Executive Andy Spano, Westchester County utilized ICLEI software in 2005 to conduct a study of greenhouse gases (“GHG”), joined ICLEI in 2007 and produced an ICLEI-inspired Climate Action Plan in 2008 which recommended that all municipalities in Westchester County join ICLEI.

Talk of the Sound has reported exclusively on Astorino’s decision to terminate Westchester’s Membership in ICLEI in 2010.

Astorino says he made the decision shortly after being elected.

“When we came into office we reviewed all of the associations to which the County belonged,” said Ned McCormack, chief spokesman for Astorino. “We determined that ICLEI was not an essential service and we dropped the membership”.

In 2012, Astorino was asked about ICLEI by New Rochelle contributor John D’Alois:

[Astorino] asked how the County came to withdraw from ICLEI. Astorino answered that after his appearance on the Sean Hannity show he was flooded with emails about the central planning and zoning by the UN. The funding for ICLEI was stopped.

In his statement, Bramson claims “many essential steps require action at the national and international level.

Agenda 21 is the United Nations action plan to implement “sustainable development” globally. The term “sustainable development” was coined in 1987 in a UN report and is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The term “needs” refers particularly to the world’s poor to which overriding priority should be given; and
the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.

The core idea is that OECD nations must make massive transfers of wealth and technology to third world nations.

The idea is driven by the belief that, in particular the American way of life — single family homes on privately-owned lots, personal automobiles, consumption of meat and so on — uses up a disproportionate share of the earth’s resources and must be eliminated.

ICLEI and its supporters have long sought to dispel what it labels “conspiracy theories” circulated about ICLEI and Agenda 21 that it is part of a global system under the auspices of the United Nations to take away property rights and lessen the sovereignty of the United States.

In recently published FAQ on its web site, ICLEI describes its role as part of the United Nations system to advance Agenda 21.

FAQ: ICLEI, the United Nations, and Agenda 21

  • ICLEI is one of many NGOs recognized by the U.N. to provide input into these processes.
  • ICLEI is the “Local Authority Major Group Co-Organizing Partner” for Rio+20 and the “Local Government and Municipal Authority Focal Point” for UNFCCC climate change negotiations.
  • ICLEI acts as a bridge between local governments and UN processes.

In describing its role in authoring Chapter 28 of Agenda 21, known as “Local Agenda 21” ILCEI says it “served the role of technical representative for a range of local government organizations, including the International Union of Local Authorities, the United Towns Organization, Metropolis, and others. ICLEI took input from these organizations regarding their key positions in areas pertinent to local government, such as urban development, water resources, and waste management, and presented these positions to UN representatives and national government representatives, who included them into the final text.”

ICLEI proponents often attempt to present ICLEI as a benign, non-profit membership organization staffed by eager young do-gooders who distribute pamphlets on the environment, host webinars on various green initiatives and provide software for cataloguing the level of carbon emissions in a local area. Connections to the United Nations and Agenda 21 are dismissed as “conspiracy theories”.

It is a fact, however, that ICLEI was founded in 1990 at its inaugural conference, the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future, which was convened at the United Nations in New York in September 1990. ICLEI wrote what became Chapter 28: Local Agenda 21 of Agenda 21. Agenda 21, also known as the Rio Accords, is a “comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups” which was adopted by 180 nations at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). UNCED, also known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, or Earth Summit, was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created in 1992, based on Chapter 38 of Agenda 21, to serve as a high level forum on sustainable development and has acted as the preparatory committee for summits and sessions on the implementation of Agenda 21. The United Nations will convene, Rio + 20, the next UNCSD summit, in June of this year, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of UNCED. Rio+20 is “a joint endeavour of the entire UN System” including ICLEI,a UN-certified NGO as part of that UN System.

ICLEI’s web site states:

The year 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit, the birthplace of the Local Agenda 21 movement. Initiated by ICLEI, it has inspired thousands of local governments and communities worldwide to put in place local strategies and actions for sustainable development. [emphasis added]

The organization was originally called “International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives” then changed its name to “ICLEI — Local Governments for Sustainability” and then, more recently to, ICLEI-USA. Critics have long contended that simply adding “USA” to its name is not going to change the fact that ICLEI is an international organization created under the auspices of the UN as the local implementation arm of Agenda 21.

If you want to know the truth about the Mayor’s “award-winning” GreeNR plan click here.

RELATED”

Why Does New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson Continue to Dissemble About New Rochelle, ICLEI and the United Nations?
Robert Cox Responds to Misleading Claims by New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson on ICLEI
New Rochelle City Council Votes to Continue ICLEI Membership, Discusses More Borrowing for Church-Division Garage
Despite Bramson Claims, New Rochelle Mayor Prepares for UN Conference in Rio Co-Organized by ICLEI
My Remarks on ICLEI and the UN to the New Rochelle City Council on May 15, 2012
Presentation on Agenda 21, ICLEI and New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson’s GreeNR Plan
City Council Should Vote on Any ICLEI Decision
As Obama Heads to Copenhagen to Climate Summit, ICLEI Infiltrates New Rochelle
New Rochelle Mayor Bramson Announces “Share the News” Team to Respond to GreeNR, ICLEI, Agenda 21 Articles on Talk of the Sound
Who is Deborah Newborn and Why Did New Rochelle Really “Hire” a Sustainability Coordinator?

All About ICLEI – A Seven Part Series on the Radical Group Behind “GreenNR”

All About ICLEI: Part I – The Mayor’s Speech
All About ICLEI: Part II – The ICLEI Pilot Program
All About ICLEI: Part III – The Five Milestones for Climate Mitigation
All About ICLEI: Part IV – United Nations Economic and Social Council & Agenda 21
All About ICLEI: Part V – Placing New Rochelle Under United Nations Mandates
All About ICLEI: Part VI – Anthropogenic Global Warming
All About ICLEI: Part VII – Sustained Development”.

6 thoughts on “In Response to Obama Speech of Climate Change, Bramson Wants UN NGO ICLEI Back in Westchester County”

  1. Climate Change
    Has anyone given this any thought? Considering, twenty thousand years ago, when the earth was much greener than it could ever be again, this section of the North American continent, where New Rochelle is located today, was under the one mile thick Laurentide ice sheet. I think we can all agree that, with the exception of winter in New York, the glacier has melted. It left behind a moraine of soil, rocks and debris which we now refer to as Long Island. The melt waters began the formation of Long Island Sound and, twelve thousand years ago, as glaciers melted worldwide, the sea level rose and filled in the basin which made Long Island Sound what it is today. So, what the heck happened? Was it an extreme use of fossil fuels in all the modes of transportation that didn’t exist, or too many electric generators running on coal (I wonder if they were using LEDs back then). Maybe it was an overabundance of pig flatulence that caused all that carbon buildup. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. I think Billy Joel may have hit on it when he wrote “We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning. Since the world’s been turning”.

    1. Science Lesson
      There are natural, periodic wobbles in the Earth’s axis, rotation and orbit, that create alterations in the worldwide climate, over varying periods from thousands to billions of years.

      Continental shifts have also been occurring for millions or billions of years. With the varying shifts of tectonic plates, ocean and air currents have radically changed for thousands to billions of years.

      The various movements of the tectonic plates have altered the ocean floor and continents, causing mountains to rise, and continents to drown, and in the process have also greatly modified climate over time.

      And of course, the Sun has its own cycles and odd behavior, that greatly affect the Earth’s climate.

      In the process of all that, the composition of our atmosphere, and of our oceans, changes, with one releasing various gasses, to be stored by the other, which also affects the climate. The current global warming is causing an accelerated release, from the ocean into the atmosphere, of carbon dioxide and methane, each which is further accelerating global warming.

      Human civilization is also releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, further accelerating global warming. As humans were created by nature, one can simply blame nature for all that is wrong with the Earth. But that’s a foolish exercise, as it offers no solutions. Obviously, there is global warming occurring,

      Human civilization, world-wide, must cooperate to reduce the acceleration of global warming, by reducing usage of carbon-based fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, especially in countries such as China.

      Even with all our efforts to reduce global warming, human civilization, world-wide, must prepare for the certainty of sea level continually rising over tens, and hundreds, and thousands of years. Either vast levees will have to be built in the NY Metro area, and all around Florida, or people will have to migrate elsewhere to dry land, possibly intruding on others.

      1. Barry O., The Periodic Wobbler
        The scientific consensus today on global warming is in the weakest state it has ever been in.

        Global warming is slowing, not speeding up. 1998 was the warmest year on record, and there has been less warming in the last 15 years than in the 20 years before that.

        The Economist Magazine, a hotbed of overwrought, handwringing global warming alarmism, conceded recently: “There’s no way around the fact that this reprieve for the planet is bad news for the proponents of policies, such as carbon taxes and emission treaties, meant to slow warming by moderating the release of greenhouse gases..They will become harder, if not impossible, to sell to the public, which will feel, not unreasonably, that the science and the media establishment has cried wolf”.

        Our narcissistic President, on the other hand, announced on Tuesday (before his $100,000,000.00 million dollar jaunt to those vitally important and strategic nations of Senegal and Tanzania) that, “on behalf of all mankind” (maybe he’s seen ‘Man of Steel’ one too many times?) he was effectively taking over the direction of the American economy.

        Instructing the EPA to begin the process of restrictions and emission controls on existing power plants, imposing federal regulations on every new commercial and residential building in the country, new restrictions on trucks (while at the same time handing out goodies to politically connected energy firms on federal lands).

        Think Solyndra 2.0

        Every economic activity involving energy and transportation, which is to say the entire American economy, will be negatively affected. Thirty percent of America’s electricity is generated by coal. Many plants will be forced out of business, and with 12 million Americans who already can’t find a decent full time job today, you can add to that the many thousands of hard working miners, in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, who voted for “Hope&Change” at their Unions direction.

        President Obama famously stated in his first campaign in 2008, “My plans make electricity skyrocket.”

        A man of his word. Who’d a thunk it?

        (And by the way, how’s that all workin’ for ya’?)

        All this because Obama has deemed it worthy of executive fiat (“on behalf of all mankind”) on account of the “overwhelming judgement of science” as he said, at Georgetown University, Tuesday.

        There hasn’t been a more contentious argument in the Halls of Science, as is this current academic fistfight over global warming, since Galileo had it out with the Pope’s henchmen over the rotation of the spheres.

        The only “overwhelming judgement” here, is the sad fact of a Community Organizer so far out of his depth, that if it wasn’t so serious, this could be an HBO summer comedy.

      2. The whole solution on solving
        The whole solution on solving the environmental problems in the world today can be achieved by eliminating mankind. Our carbon footprint and reliance on fossil fuels is destroying the planet. The solution according to Bramson and Agenda 21,is to reduce population growth and get people to use mass transit and bicycles by building stack and pack high rise buildings with limited parking and apartments that are only big enough for single young professionals. The affluent middle class life style is unsustainable.

        So far, the effects of government planning have crippled American society. For the last 40 years, things like deregulation, global trading, the stimulus bills and EPA regulations have all led to lower wages, reduced benefits, and fewer jobs for American workers while simultaneously increasing the number of people on government welfare programs.

        Government can’t even get people to obey traffic laws or stop illegal immigration and somehow it’s going to miraculously change human consumption patterns and turn us all into lean, mean fighting machines.

        The EPA regulations alone have cost Americans a fortune. When one adds up the number of jobs lost in trucking alone because the truckers can’t afford to retrofit their equipment with EPA mandated equipment, or keep up with high cost of fuel, the costs are staggering. Add that to the effects of deregulation from the Reagan administration and the easy money on the Clinton era, and the negative effects on American are enormous. Now, millions of additional taxpayer dollars are being dumped into Agenda 21 policies and those dollars are being taken from the middle class who simply don’t have the money to give. Moreover, the chances of government changing human behavior are less than slim.

        See if Bramson is going to give up his single family home all in an effort to preserve open space and reduce his dependency on fossil fuels. How dare he use a fossil fuel heating system in his house. The guy went out and had kids who are destroying this planet with carbon footprints. Don’t they know any better? Well, like every other politician, do as they say not as they do.

    1. I can think of some other
      I can think of some other types of “bag” he might be but it is inappropriate to use that type of language on this website.

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