![Sustainable development, the "new world order", according to the U.N.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large_lightbox/hash/68/8e/688e732a34384538c984baa6cda4ccd9.jpg "Sustainable development, the "new world order", according to the U.N.")
Alarmism is neither productive nor wise, and often serves to only obscure the truth and obfuscate the facts beneath an issue. However, there are legitimate times when it is crucial to be concerned about societal trends which can be destructive to the values homeschoolers (and Americans) hold dear. This is one of those times. There is a disturbing agenda that is seeping into all realms of society, yet because it has come so quietly, most people are not even aware that it is there. Couched as the inclusive, palatable term "globalism", this wolf in sheep's clothing has permeated all elements of culture, and sits poised to destroy the very foundations upon which America was built. So just what is this concept, and why does it matter to the homeschooling community?
The Agenda of Globalism
According to Tom DeWeese, President of The American Policy Center and editor of the DeWeese report, "There are many faces of globalism and it comes with many names, but in all cases the goal of globalism is to erase national borders, eliminate national sovereignty, reduce national identities and move toward global governance through the United Nations". The plan for globalization is outlined by the U.N.s Agenda 21, a policy document adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Under the banner of "sustainable development", Agenda 21 (named thus as the U.N.'s agenda for the 21st century) unveils a plan for globalization based on the idea that the world's current rate of development is unsustainable, because humans are consuming the world's resources. As a result, the policy proposes actions that centralize property, manage the increase and concentration of the population through social engineering approaches known as "smart growth", and redistribute resources, particularly in the areas of energy and wealth. This agenda is the basis behind the "green movement", and has become the driving force behind what most people believe is simply a well-intentioned plan to take care of the environment.
"Sustainable development" is the watchword for globalism, as outlined in Agenda 21. Defined as "meet[ing] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs", it is sustainable development which is the bedrock for the initiatives related to globalization. Its scope is delineated in the United Nations' Convention on Biodiversity, which, according to its website, was "conceived as a practical tool for translating the principles of Agenda 21 into reality". According to the Biodiversity treaty, "Nature has an integral set of different values (cultural, spiritual and, material) where humans are one strand in nature’s web and all living creatures are considered equal. Therefore, the natural way is the right way and human activities should be molded along nature’s rhythms." In short, globalization, under the concept of sustainable development, is a society dictated by world government, in which nature is the fundamental organizing principle rather than humanity. Because the United States signed Agenda 21 in 1992, and in spite of the fact that it has never been adopted or voted upon by Congress, sustainable development is now the official policy of the United States and is vigorously being implemented on federal, state, and local levels.
Implementation of globalism
According to Agenda 21, Chapter 31.4, "Each country should aim to complete, as soon as practicable, if possible by 1994, a review of capacity - and capability-building requirements for devising national sustainable development strategies, including those for generating and implementing its own Agenda 21 action programme...". To comply with this recommendation, under President Bill Clinton the President's Council on Sustainable Development was developed in 1993 to begin implementation of Agenda 21. From this council, many pieces of "model legislation", in the publication Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning and the Management of Change, were drafted for state legislatures. Once adopted, these statutes put into law such things as the power of the government to regulate land usage in rural areas, redistribute the population to create more wilderness in support of biodiversity, and develop government sponsored, highly urbanized and concentrated population centers in rural areas, in order to more equitably balance community and to reduce suburban land usage (which is considered to be an unsustainable waste of land).
Implementation on a local level
To see how Agenda 21 has begun to be implemented at a local level, it is helpful to look at Carroll County, Maryland. In May 2009, a smart growth plan called Pathways was released, including such proposed changes as: rezoning farmland and other private property into office parks, changing agricultural zoning to prevent farmers from subdividing it, rezoning residential land near small towns into high density government subsidized housing, including multifamily housing on lots within existing single home communities, and government housing subsidies to help balance neighborhoods. According to Henry Lamb, Executive Vice President of The Environmental Conservation Organization, most states have now passed some type of comprehensive planning legislation requiring each county to develop plans which conform to the objectives of sustainable development and Agenda 21.
A new world order
The clear agenda of globalization, under the purview of sustainable development, is evident through the words of Maurice Strong, one of the chief strategists of the Convention on Biological Diversity and founder of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In a message to the Swedish Royal Academy, Strong said, "Sustainable development" is not just "idealistic notions, but survival imperatives...." and "It will require the development of an effective and enforceable international legal regime." He further explained, "The 50th anniversary of the UN next year provides a unique opportunity to restructure and revitalize the UN...to prepare for the vastly increased role it must have as the primary multi-lateral framework of a new world order". Let's reiterate that one more time, so the scope of this agenda is clear: New world order. That is not a term used by a radical right-wing conspiracist, but the vision of one of the most influential strategists behind the agenda itself. Al Gore, former Vice President, has also acknowledged that the shift propagated by Agenda 21 constitutes a new world order, in his book Earth in the Balance: "We require a central organizing principle - one agreed to voluntarily. Minor shifts in policy, moderate improvement in laws and regulations, rhetoric offered in lieu of genuine change - these are all forms of appeasement, designed to satisfy the public’s desire to believe that sacrifice, struggle and a wrenching transformation of society will not be necessary." Using nature as the organizing principle for life, and the U.N. as the governing body to ensure that everything in the world conforms to that organizing principle, this agenda is no minor shift in policy, but a complete departure from society as Americans have known it.
Impact on homeschoolers
How does this affect homeschoolers? The agenda of globalism and sustainable development is a threat to the very values homeschoolers hold dear: individual rights, personal choice, freedom in every sense of the word. With the new world order of globalism, decisions on every facet of life would be governed and monitored by the U.N. to ensure that they complied with the objectives of sustainable development. However, the train of globalism does not stop at a political and economic level, but barrels into the realm of education as well. The State Department reported to the U.N. that school curricula at both the primary and secondary school levels have been "reviewed and revised" to include the objectives of sustainable development, with the help of the Environmental Protection Agency (which is the major pipeline through which Agenda 21 programs and policies flow into the United States, without the benefit of Congressional debate or decision) and The National Environmental Education Advisory Council (which includes organizations closely allied with the U.N. and the objectives of sustainable development). The freedom for parents to educate their children as they deem fit is anathema to the goals of globalism, and could not be allowed in the new world order. Homeschooling, as well as most of life as America now knows it, would cease to exist.
Roanoke homeschooler Susan Plenge values the freedom to educate her children so that they can learn at their own pace, excel where they are gifted, and to make God a part of their learning. She says, "Part of the reason for homeschooling my children is to teach them of the world and its ways before they are placed in it. Equipping them with the ability to decipher black and white, right and wrong and how to discern the difference based on morals and values that we deem faithful with our Lord's view is how I view my role and why I stand in honor of all who choose to make the sacrifice to do the same". If the objectives of globalism come to fruition in American society, the freedom to pursue such goals as these through home education will be sacrificed on the altar of sustainable development. Homeschoolers must become informed and stand against the tide of globalism, before the world about which we teach becomes a world that we no longer know.
To read The new world order of sustainable development: How will it affect us?, click here.
To read The global agenda for education: The World Innovation Summit for Education, click here.
To read The marriage of religion, nature, and politics: The "why" behind the new world order, click here.
To read Behind the U.N.'s global agenda: The driving forces of socialism and control, click here.
To read Implementation of the global agenda for the transformation of society: How does it happen? click here.
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Sources:
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DeWeese, T. (2009, Nov./Dec.) What You Need to Know About the New 'Globally Correct Education". Practical Homeschooling: Home Life, Inc.
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:0w4r7tQ35TgJ:www.westgov.com/citygov/documents/Ch.14Inter-jurisdictional.pdf+Carroll+County+MD+County+Planning+Department+smart+growth+Pathways&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
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