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Understanding Sustainable Development - Agenda 21 <br />Understanding Sustainable Development - Agenda 21 <br />(PCSD) for the purpose of implementing Agenda 21 in the United <br />States. The PCSD operated through 1999, but its actions to promote <br />Sustainable Development have taken root, and now exert an increasing <br />influence across America. <br />International organizations such as the U.N., and its accredited Non - <br />Governmental Organizations (NGOs), generally consider Sustainable <br />Development and Agenda 21 to be synonymous. Therefore, in order <br />to avoid confusion and equivocation, Sustainable Development will be <br />the term used throughout this document to refer to both. Agenda 21 <br />will only be used to refer to the actual document from the Rio Earth <br />Summit. <br />At times the political agenda embodied in Sustainable Development is <br />implemented under other names for purposes of political expediency. <br />J. Gary Lawrence, a planner for the City of Seattle and advisor to <br />the President's Council on Sustainable Development said in 1998, <br />"Participating in a U.N. advocated planning process would very <br />likely bring out many...who would actively work to defeat any <br />elected official...undertaking Local Agenda 21. So we will call our <br />process something else, such as "comprehensive planning," "growth <br />management," or "smart growth."' <br />The Antithetical Foundations of Liberty <br />and Sustainable Development <br />"Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist." <br />- John Adams <br />It has long been known that liberty is tied to the institution of private <br />property. The Decalogue codified private property in four words: <br />"Thou shalt not steal." <br />"Private property and freedom are inseparable." <br />- George Washington <br />5. Lawrence, J. Gary, The Future of Local Agenda 21 in the New Millennium, <br />The Millennium Papers, UNED-UK, Issue 2, (1998), 3. <br />The institution of private property is understood by those who <br />participate in the American Experiment' as its principles are included <br />in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of <br />Rights.' The right to property as outlined in those documents are <br />premised on an owner's determination of its use, provided that such <br />use does not disturb the equal rights of another. <br />"...all Men...are endowed by their Creator with certain <br />unalienable Rights, that among these are <br />Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." <br />- The Declaration of Independence <br />Which Philosophy of Rights? <br />Nature <br />Source <br />Purpose of <br />government <br />In sh1u <br />Individual Rights <br />U.S. Declaration of Independence <br />Protect the natural or <br />unalienable rights of each <br />individual <br />"That all Men are <br />created equal, that they <br />are endowed by their <br />Creator with certain <br />unalienable rights..." <br />You're born with rights, <br />government exists to protect <br />them. You and the product of <br />your labor belong to you. <br />Community Rights <br />U.N. Declaration of Human Rights <br />Control the individual for <br />the greater good of a global <br />community <br />"Rights and freedoms <br />may in no case be <br />exercised contrary to the <br />purposes and principles <br />of the United Nations" <br />Government grants, restricts <br />or withdraws your rights <br />according to its needs. You <br />and the product of your labor <br />belong to the community. <br />® 2007 FREEDOMADVOCATES.ORG <br />6. Soapes, Emily Williams. "The American Experiment: Living with the <br />Constitution." Prologue: Journal of the National Archives 19, no.3 (Fall 1987): <br />185-189. <br />7. See also Machan, Tibor, Private Rights & Public Illusions, Transaction <br />Publishers, New Brunswick (1995). <br />— 4 — <br />