By Henry Lamb
BONN - While delegates from all over the world are nit-picking every detail of the Kyoto Protocol, trying to make it acceptable to the victims, the U.N.'s puppet army, the NGO (non-government organization) brigade, is preparing to celebrate the transformation of America to "Kyoto Land."
Greenpeace staged a major press event to announce that wind generation would provide electricity for future generations. According to their calculations, wind can provide 10% of all the electricity needed by 2020, providing, of course, that the industry is heavily subsidized, and people are forced to use it. Hmmm. Get out your pencil. Nuclear energy is bad, according to Greenpeace, and its use cannot be expanded. Fossil fuels are bad, and its use must be eliminated. Dams are bad, according to Greenpeace, and must be torn down. That leaves wind, solar, and ?.
Simple calculations suggest that even if wind were to provide 10% of all electricity by 2020, and nuclear energy remained at its present level, and the Kyoto targets for fossil fuel reductions are met, a whopping total of 45% of the world's energy demand would be met. That means only 55% of the world's electricity needs would go unmet. Good plan, Greenpeace.
The Climate Action Network (CAN) has begun granting a "Fossil Award" each day to the nation they label as most destructive to the cause. They award a chunk of prime coal to the least cooperative nation each day. So far, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and the United States have been recipients.
CAN is a coalition of GAGs (Green Advocacy Groups) that are absolutely convinced that they have all the answers to all the problems, even those that don't exist. Anyone who dares disagree for whatever reason is immediately labeled as a pawn of the fossil fuel industry, or worse. In a bitter tirade yesterday, CAN chastised the Clinton/Gore administration for not doing enough to promote the Kyoto Protocol, and condemned Congress for its skepticism.
These little episodes that sometimes get the attention of the press, though, are just exercises to relieve the boredom of the Bonn negotiations, They have little impact outside the hotel.
The real danger comes from the NGOs that are quietly working around the world to implement the Kyoto Protocol. The United Nations Association, for example, is promoting the *** Charter for Global Democracy *** (http://www.eco.freedom.org/el/19991002/chart99.shtml) which calls for the creation of a new "Environmental Court" which would have the power to prosecute those who fail to comply with the U.N.'s environmental dictates. It also calls for a new, special "High Level Task Force" to allocate emissions -- which means allocate energy use. The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) is the official spokesman for "local authorities." The World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, and a ton of other GAGs are busily working in the field to implement policies developed by the international NGOs.
The driving force, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its close ally, the Natural Resources Institute, are responsible for developing most of the major environmental policies now being enforced by the United Nations. The IUCN is responsible for developing UNESCO's plan to ban mining activity near World Heritage Sites. Congress is holding hearings of this issue today.
It's high time Congress recognized that the million dollars a year the State Department gives to the IUCN is being used ultimately to help deprive people of the freedom Congress is sworn to protect. It's high time Congress investigated the membership contract between the IUCN and each of the federal agencies that are members of the IUCN. It's high time Congress stopped funding GAGs with generous tax-payer grants. It's high time generous Americans realized that contributions to these organizations do little to protect the environment, but fund silliness such as handing out chunks of coal, fantasizing about windmills, and buying up land and natural resources.
It's time for Americans to hold their elected officials accountable, to insist that America and Americans, come first -- in consideration of every issue, every policy, and every treaty. It's time for us to meet the responsibility our freedom demands. If we fail, there will be little freedom to defend.
Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO), and chairman of Sovereignty International.