We have been giving BILLIONS to accomplish the very same edict for the past 20 years and what

has been done with the money?? Nothing. People are still poor, people are still without proper housing, food, education or health care. WHY? Because the dictators that take our money are using it for themselves not their people and this will be no different. IT IS NOT ABOUT POVERTY!! IT IS ALL ABOUT the destruction of the American economy by redistribution of wealth. ALSO, take note about how they plan to change education. This is already happening. Our kids are not being taught the 3 R's anymore it is all about the 3 E's.

NOW MORE THAN EVER BEFORE WE MUST GET OUT OF THE UN. Please go to TPOLICY.COM and send your Representative a message directly to his/her IPAD to support HR1146 (withdraw the US from the UN) PLEASE DO IT TODAY and GET EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO DO IT AS WELL. It takes all of about 30 seconds to do. Then stayed tuned for our national postcard campaign and anti Agenda 21 rally on October 20, 2012. tpolicy.com

U.N. sustainability summit ends with $513 billion in pledges

Global leaders meeting in Brazil approve a plan to bring clean water, sanitation and energy to the world's poor without further damage to the planet.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-rio-conference-20120623,0,5575244.story RIO DE JANEIRO After days of quiet backroom dealing and soaring public rhetoric, global leaders on Friday approved a plan to bring clean water, sanitation and energy to the world's poor without further degrading the planet. The agreement, widely criticized for its watered-down ambitions, was overshadowed by a flurry of financial commitments and side deals announced at the three-day U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development. Government leaders, bankers and corporate CEOs took advantage of the gathering of 50,000 people the largest meeting in U.N. history to announce new partnerships, programs and investments. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the $513 billion in commitments "a significant legacy of this conference billions of dollars' worth of actions and investments that will have the power to transform lives across the globe."

To some of those present, the conference presented a new model, a global gathering to inspire government and corporate leaders and others to move ahead and build momentum rather than waiting for world leaders to reach consensus on a treaty to address climate change or other environmental matters. "We cannot be boxed in by the orthodoxies of the past," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a speech to delegates of more than 190 nations. "We need fresh, agile, action-oriented partnerships that can produce results year after year after year." Clinton announced an agreement with 400 major food and agriculture companies to halt deforestation, and partnerships with African nations for clean-energy projects. The world's largest development banks vowed to invest $175 billion in energy-efficient public transport in poor countries. Mayors vowed to shrink their city's carbon footprints. Educators vowed to change economics classes, and even questions on the SAT and GMAT exams, so that students learn about sustainable development. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Norwegian prime minister and former World Health Organization director, was heartened by all of the proposals for "sustainable development," which she defines as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.'' She gave the 49-page negotiated document, titled "The Future We Want," a mixed review. It had few major breakthroughs, she said, but didn't backslide either. Negotiators came under enormous pressure to avoid an embarrassing failure, as happened in Copenhagen in 2009 over a new climate treaty. The conference, known as Rio+20, was broader in scope. It was called 20 years after the 1992 first Earth Summit here under vastly different circumstances. The European debt crisis and the sputtering U.S. economic recovery made wealthy countries shy from new financial commitments to help developing nations. As a result, the plan often lacked specific goals and timetables, which U.N. officials say are needed to provide for a growing population of 7 billion, at a time when fresh water, thriving oceans, arable land and a stable climate are under stress. "For too long we have behaved as though we could indefinitely burn and consume our way to prosperity," Ban said. "Today, we recognize that we can no longer do so." The master plan mostly reaffirms past commitments. But it also calls for more protection for the oceans, specifically curbing marine pollution and overfishing. It proposes that all nations adopt "sustainable development goals," with the details to be worked out before 2015. "It's too soon to tell what will be the legacy of this conference," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute. "Sustainable development goals could be it. Concise, well-written goals could inspire a generation of action. We need the inspiration." The closed-door negotiations also brought up a decades-old fight over women's rights, specifically over their right to control fertility. The Vatican, an official observer at U.N. negotiations, persuaded a few predominantly Catholic countries to join a couple of conservative Muslim nations to insist that the words "reproductive rights" be deleted from the plan. That brought a reaction from Clinton, and her only applause line: "Women must be empowered to make decisions about whether and when to have children," she told the delegates. "And the United States will continue to work to ensure that those rights are respected in international agreements."

kenneth.weiss@latimes.com

UN Reaps Sustainability Pledges Worth $513 Billion in Rio

By Reed Landberg and Alex Morales - Jun 22, 2012 11:00 PM ET

The United Nations obtained pledges worth $513 billion from governments and companies for projects aimed at reducing the strain on the planets resources, the biggest accomplishment at a meeting that world leaders and environmentalists assailed for not setting strong enough goals. The 692 individual commitments from governments are for projects that cut fossil fuel use, boost renewable energy, conserve water and alleviate poverty, Sha Zukang, secretary- general of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, said yesterday in Rio de Janeiro.

Enlarge image US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a speech during a plenary session of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 22, 2012. World leaders attending the UN summit in Rio weighed steps to root out poverty and protect the environment as thousands of activists held several protests to denounce Amazon rainforest deforestation, the plight of indigenous peoples and the "green economy" being advocated at the UN gathering. Photographer: Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images UN officials said the voluntary pledges are the most important legacy of the Rio+20 meeting marking two decades since the first Earth Summit. They may accomplish more than the official agreement from the meeting, 49 pages of recommendations that disappointed leaders from French President Francois Hollande to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Highest expectations are on governments, but they cannot get the job done alone, Sha said as three days of discussions concluded. It is about concrete action. The summit in Rio in 1992 led to treaties on global warming, deserts and biodiversity. This years gathering, the UNs biggest ever, had 45,300 delegates from more than 180 nations. It produced a nonbinding document, with nations agreeing to keep talking about still-undefined sustainable development goals.

Summit Hijacked

Much of the work detailed by the UN today already has begun, including projects backed by PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) and billionaire Richard Bransons Carbon War Room, and $2 billion in support from the U.S. Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth International said the summit was hijacked by business interests. Delegates said governments need the help of companies. Without the private sector its not going to work, Jose-Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, said in an interview. While governments put up the seed money, the big numbers come from the private sector. The private sector is looking at green growth with great interest, seeing it as an opportunity, as jobs, as investment. Many of the pledges were made public before the conference in Rio this week. This is the first time the UN has given a comprehensive estimate of their value.

Sustainability Studies

The promises include at least 243 programs related to higher education projects such as studies of sustainability issues at universities in Sydney, Beijing, Paris and New York. About $280 billion was invested in renewable energy worldwide last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The London research group has counted more than $1 trillion of funds for projects in wind, solar, biofuels and geothermal energy since its records began in 2004. Theres no doubt that Rio+20 fell short, said Manish Bapna, acting president of the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based environmental research group. But its a mistake to conflate what happened here with whats happening on the ground. You just need to look beyond the walls of the conference to find real-world examples of action.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocate following a smaller group of commitments with specific targets, counts 209 separate commitments worth at least $500 million on its website.

Rallying Cry

Rio cant be about the text, said Jake Schmidt, NRDCs director of climate policy. Its got to be about the commitments and the rallying cry thats coming from the public. The record of governments delivering on promises like the ones theyve made this week is very poor, said Bjorn Lomborg, a professor at Copenhagen Business School and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist. He said the pledges reflect efforts of companies to take advantage of government incentives they expect to flow due to the recommendations set out in Rio. The reason lots and lots of businesses are in Rio is theyre rent-seeking, Lomborg said in an interview. Theyre looking for huge potential subsidies for everything they produce. The UN pledges also cover a Dutch cycling campaign, Bank of America Corp. (BAC)s $50 billion plan to stimulate lending for sustainability and the UNs $50 billion program to bring cleaner forms of energy to the worlds poorest nations.

Half Done

I dont see business people demanding a stronger UN text, Bank of America Chairman Chad Holliday said in an interview in Rio. We wont save the world alone, but well get half of it done, and well get some momentum. Among the voluntary efforts unveiled this week in Rio is a $20 million grant from the U.S. to spur clean energy in Africa, which will unlock greater financing from the Overseas Private Investment Corp. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sustainability wont happen without business investment. Governments alone cannot solve all the problems we face, from climate change to persistent poverty to chronic energy shortages, Clinton said at an event announcing the funding in Rio. Thats why we are so strongly in favor of partnerships. To contact the reporters on this story: Reed Landberg in Rio de Janeiro at landberg@bloomberg.net; Alex Morales in Rio de Janeiro at amorales2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-22/un-gets-sustainability-pledges-worth-513-billion-in-rio.html