{"id":306,"date":"2012-11-28T14:55:53","date_gmt":"2012-11-28T19:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/whos-behind-the-anti-sustainability-astroturf-talking-points-aka-agenda-21.html"},"modified":"2012-11-28T14:55:53","modified_gmt":"2012-11-28T19:55:53","slug":"whos-behind-the-anti-sustainability-astroturf-talking-points-aka-agenda-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/whos-behind-the-anti-sustainability-astroturf-talking-points-aka-agenda-21.html","title":{"rendered":"Who’s behind the anti-sustainability astroturf talking points (aka “Agenda 21”)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nALEC’s “our state legislators” are promoting<\/a> the
\nanti-sustainability astroturf talking points<\/a> at the Georgia
\nstate capitol. But ALEC doesn’t seem to be the source of those
\ntalking points. Who is? Follow the money: who stands to benefit the
\nmost by obstructing public transportation, fuel efficiency, and
\nrenewable energy? The fossil fuel companies, especially big
\noil.<\/p>\n

Lloyd Alter wrote for Treehugger 29 June 2012,
\nExposing the Influence Behind the Anti-Agenda 21
\nAnti-Sustainability Agenda<\/a>, first pointing out that most people
\nnever even heard of Agenda 21:<\/p>\n

\n

…a recent survey showed that most people never heard of it and
\n
\n\"Few
\n<\/a> only 6% say they are against it. so why are politicians from
\nState governments up to the National Republican Party and
\nPresidential candidates like Newt Gingrich make such a big deal of
\nit?<\/p>\n

\n

“People don’t wake up in the morning sweating bullets about the
\nUnited Nations.”-Robin Rather<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Robin Rather of Collective Strength, who commissioned the
\nsurvey, says “I genuinely believe the Agenda 21 phenomenon is
\nhighly manufactured. It’s not out there in the mainstream.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There are a number of leads back to big oil, starting with one
\nof the main conduits of the talking points, the John Birch Society,
\none of whose founders was Fred Koch, founder of Koch industries,
\na diversified multinational that has large fossil fuel components.
\nHis sons David and Charles founded Americans for Prosperity.<\/p>\n

\n

When he is not out on the public speaking circuit, Tom DeWeese
\nis President of the American Policy Center, the loudest mouthpiece
\nof the anti-Agenda 21 crowd.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Alter digs into APC board connects to big oil,<\/p>\n


\n
\nleading to Amoco, Chevron, Dow Chemical, Exxon, and General
\nMotors.<\/a> The one company he found with the most documented dollars
\ngoing to organizations or people promoting the talking points is
\nExxonMobil. Well, and the Koch brothers:<\/p>\n

\n

As Far as the Koch’s Americans For Prosperity goes, they hand
\nout brochures about Agenda 21 that are almost fair and balanced
\ncompared to some of the stuff I have read.<\/p>\n

\n

Some conservatives worry that sustainable development is just a
\ndisguise for a larger scheme to adopt radical environmentalism,
\nwealth redistribution, or some form of \u201cworld
\ngovernment\u201d through local initiatives. But whether this is
\ntrue is largely irrelevant: regardless of the underlying motives
\nand regardless of the source, the policies themselves prove to be
\nan affront to property rights and harmful to the American economy.
\nTo those who favor economic freedom and limited government, this
\nalone is grounds for concern.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

AFP branches from Kansas to Oregon appear to have Tom Deweese
\nconstantly on the rubber chicken circuit, he is everywhere.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There’s much more in the article.<\/p>\n

Why does it matter who’s behind the talking points? Because big
\noil is not very popular, and revealing it’s behind the talking
\npoints can help defeat the talking points.<\/p>\n

\n

One of the reasons that California’s Proposition 23, which would
\nhave suspended air pollution controls, was defeated was that it
\nbecame clear that the whole thing was being funded by oil companies
\nand Koch Industries. As the Bay Citizen reported, “Opponents of the
\nmeasure successfully painted Prop. 23 as the handiwork of
\nout-of-state oil companies bent on messing with California’s
\nlaws.”<\/p>\n

\n

Bike lanes, transit and higher density are evil because they
\ngive people alternatives to cars, and that can never happen in
\nAmerica.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fundamentally, that is what is happening here. Big Oil is paying
\nfor CFACT and either directly or indirectly the fight against
\nAgenda 21; The Kochs are promoting it like mad, right across the
\ncountry. Same big companies, same reason: to keep America in its
\nhappy motoring ways, to make any alternative just about impossible.
\nAnd that is how we have to paint them: not concerned citizens
\nworried about the United Nations, but representatives of big oil
\nout to preserve their turf.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which corporations have the biggest fossil-fuel-related
\nmonopolies in Georgia? Oh, right: the utility companies, especially
\nGeorgia Power and its parent the Southern Company. I haven’t found
\nany direct connection between them and these particular
\nanti-sustainability talking points, but it’s clear who some of the
\ncorporations are that benefit from them the most: Southern Company
\nand Georgia Power. And remember Southern Company is apparently a
\nmember of ALEC. Are electric utility monopolies and big oil really who you want
\nto be promoting at the expense of your neighbors?<\/p>\n

For that matter, instead of playing defense against bogus
\ntalking points, how about go on the offense, for example by
\nproposing
\ndivestment from fossil fuel companies?<\/a><\/p>\n

-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALEC’s “our state legislators” are promoting the anti-sustainability astroturf talking points at the Georgia state capitol. But ALEC doesn’t seem to be the source of those talking points. Who is? Follow the money: who stands to benefit the most by obstructing public transportation, fuel efficiency, and renewable energy? The fossil fuel companies, especially big oil. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,140,40,16,70,8,18,2,21,22,23,53],"tags":[8701,8702,7,6],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-alec","category-community","category-environment","category-ethics","category-georgia","category-georgia-power","category-government","category-planning","category-politics","category-renewable-energy","category-sustainability","tag-georgia","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-county","tag-valdosta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}