A campaign against the new economy --- you can’t make this stuff up

 We here at SRiQ are all about a more open, inclusive debate on what matters to our community. Sure, it gets messy, but it’s the flow of ideas that matters. However, there is one idea floating around that is just crazy: Agenda 21.

The Tea Party has locked onto the notion that the United Nations is taking over local control through a voluntary plan, started in 1992, called Agenda 21. The U.N. launched Agenda 21 to fight poverty, manage natural resources and bring people into local decision-making who typically have no voice. Back in the '80s and '90s, third world countries faced mass deforestation, water shortages, wars and a habit of beating the pulp out of women who challenged authority.

Closer to home, sustainability concepts take on a less dire, but still important role in how we have managed resources, though it started here way before 1992. Throughout time Sarasotans have made decisions on water, shorelines, forests and community investments that have become our competitive advantage. As the rest of Florida junked itself up, we’ve done a pretty good job of treating economic development, community and natural resources as equal concepts. It’s never been a partisan political issue.

But the Tea Party is onto this plot. Their opinions on the threat level range from heartburn over clean energy subsidies to outright paranoia over a one-world government coming to cram everyone into gulag-style apartments. The following is a growing list of watch-words that are part of this radical green agenda: (Click here to download the full presentation that lists these watch-words.)

 So, why should anyone in Sarasota pay attention? What does it mean for creatives, millennials and Baby Boomers?

1) How we make money --- Sarasota is home to a group of sustainability entrepreneurs that is so big and economically powerful, the Chamber of Commerce launched the Green Business Leadership Committee. That same radical Chamber also includes the Environment along with the Economy and Education as the three priority “E’s.” Sarasota is becoming a hub for organic food processing and distribution, green buildings and research. All manner of tourism --- beach, sports and eco --- rely on clean air and water. The list of “Warm and Fuzzy Expressions” is basically our economic development plan.

2) Where we want to live --- The firm Robert Charles Lesser specializes in real estate trends. Reading through the presentation of what the next generation of buyers and renters want is a checklist of what the Tea Party is fighting. Stuff to walk to, and downtown apartments are new targets of the Tea Party, ostensibly because people like TWIS readers don’t count as part of the free market.

3) What’s important in Sarasota --- Lloyd Alter of Treehugger decided to follow the money behind the anti-Agenda 21 crusade, and like everything political, the funding traces to large think tanks funded by Big Something-or-other. For Agenda 21, it’s Big Oil. The growing list of anti-Agenda 21 targets are things we have done all on our own (such as the urban service boundary which was adopted and later re-affirmed by voters), a walkable downtown and the International Baccalaureate program at Riverview High School. (IB programs are on the watch list --- seriously?)

We can (and must) set high standards, and the push-back from the Tea Party is not all bad. We must be smarter about everything, even the Warm and Fuzzy stuff. We don’t have the same money to buy open space as we used to and wonder whether a system that can’t run regular buses on July 4 is ready to take it to the next level of rapid transit.

This would be amusing, but these types of conversations can take a life on of their own. Alabama just passed the first state law against Agenda 21. The Republican National Committee has issued a resolution against Agenda 21 and groups around Florida like the Panhandle Patriots are writing letters like crazy. The list of what Agenda 21 includes has metastasized to include the fundamentals of the creative economy and Sarasota’s ability to compete.

Our reps are only hearing from one side, though it seems insane we have to write letters in support of rational, forward thinking. But we do. Five Points park was the beginning of an experiment on making our great city better by raising our voices. This is the second installment.

Here’s your assignment:
1) Look at the list of Warm and Fuzzy words and pick whichever ones are important to you. If you are pressed for time, just forward this article.

2) Write a quick email on what’s important to your Commissioners: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

3) Send this article to your friends who feel as strongly as you do, Riverview grads from the IB program and business friends. Get them to do the same.