Resident Urges Committee to Be Cautious on Sustainable Program

After learning of an alleged connection between a United Nations effort and the origins of the Sustainable New Jersey program at recent Tea Party meeting, Thistle Lane resident Joan Schiller urged the Township Committee to withdraw from some of the program's requirements.

"I did some research on it, and what I found was quite frightening," Schiller said.

The United Nations' Division of Sustainable Development's website notes Agenda 21 is "a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment." The document includes steps for governments to take to establish greater environmentally-sustainable economies, focused on developing nations. The United States and 178 countries signed on to the agreement at the UN Conference of Environment and Development in Rio De Janiero in June 1992.

The agreement includes a 10-year action plan for nations, with the establishment of local sustainable councils as one of the steps. However, the history of the Sustainable New Jersey does not note any connection to any federal or international efforts. 

In speaking to the committee, Schiller pointed to a section of the Sustainable New Jersey website on "Climate Action Plan", which states, "Community actions will require joint efforts of the public and private sectors, and include policy changes that will affect the lives of residents and local private businesses." According to the site, such actions include establishing a baseline of the municipality's carbon foot print and setting reduction goals, through programs such as anti-idling ordinances or mixed-use developments.

She read a section she said she found in her "study of some of the documents on which this United Nations Agenda 21 and Sustainable New Jersey are based" was claimed "Land cannot be treated as an ordinary asset...Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth, and therefore contributes to social injustice."

However, in the Agenda 21's section on the Integrated Approach to Planning and Management of Land Resources , private property rights are mentioned as one fo the factors to be take in consideration. 

Schiller also read what she said were sections which cited the basis for the loss of bio-diversity is being "embedded in the way societies use their resources, the main culprit is our Judeo-Christian values," and a section that says a shift from "affluent, middle class lifestyles" is necessary for sustainability.

"Let me just conclude by saying that I believe firmly in green, ecological responsibility," Schiller said. "As you study the mission goals and mandates of implementation that I presented to you tonight...I think you'll need to agree that we need to withdraw from the restrictive mandates under the guise of environmentalism that are required to create social and environmental equality with all the other nations of the world."

Schiller said she didn't believe the members of the township's Green Team, responsible for developing and implementing the Sustainable NJ program, "realize the magnitude of regulation" in the program.

The committee members thanked Schiller for her information, but Deputy Mayor Carolann Garafola said she was a "little taken aback."