Peter Wilson
American Thinker
3/20/2010
The Cambridge, Massachusetts Climate Emergency Congress (CEC) is more than a grassroots group of out-of-touch leftists. Rather, it is a casebook study of a new movement of “climate community activism” that pushes sustainability issues in municipal governments. It is a worldwide movement that bears watching.
The largest player in this movement was founded in 1990 to fight ozone pollution under the name “International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.” It is now known as the ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability. ICLEI is a global organization of 1,124 municipalities and regional organizations. The Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative is also a major force in organizing municipalities through their C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.
Through the ICLEI, Cambridge is a member of the Copenhagen Catalogue of City Commitments to Combat Climate Change (CCCCCCC? C7?) and a member of Local Agenda 21 (LA21), an initiative created “with support of the UN Secretariat for the World Summit on Sustainable Development and in collaboration with the UN Development Programme Capacity 21.” The LA21 survey reveals that “6,416 local authorities in 113 countries have … made a formal commitment to Local Agenda 21.”…
…That where the city lacks the necessary legal authority to exert such preferences, it attempts to obtain this authority as justified by the city’s emergency powers in accordance with the law….
…The City Council wishes to pass a sweeping set of legislative changes, but rather than holding a series of public hearings discussing whether action should be taken, they created a “stakeholder” group with the explicit purpose of responding to the agreed-upon climate emergency…
…Climate negotiations at Kyoto and Copenhagen are largely among nations, but this global warming movement among local governments is gaining momentum. When our Cambridge City Council sends delegates to Copenhagen or passes one of its resolutions on international matters, residents might chuckle that our Council ought to pay attention to potholes and stop opining about things they cannot control. This is to underestimate the potential power of this movement, which, although nascent, represents a challenge to the vertical structure of local-state-federal organization outlined in the Constitution. A horizontal global organization of municipalities parallel with the United Nations nibbles away at our national sovereignty and is a step in the direction of global government.
Read the complete article at the American Thinker.
