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Sustainable Development Presentation in Beloit Monday November 17th

 

Sustainable Development Presentation

Monday, November 17, 2014

by Terry Bailey

 

Challenge what you are being told,” advised Richard Runzau to an audience approaching 100 people at the Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall Monday evening. Runzau, a Sedgwick County Commissioner from Valley Center told the audience, which displayed a bit of a ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ attitude, that “You deserve to have proof and validation to other people’s claims, particularly those in public service offices.”

 

Runzau, recently re-elected to a second four year term as a Sedgwick County Commission, presented what appeared to be a well-documented account of the history of the theory and origins of sustainable development. He told the audience that when he was first elected to office he knew nothing about sustainable development and felt he owed it to his constituents to know what it was all about.

According to Runzau, sustainable development dates back to a UN report entitled Our Common Future authored in 1987. The definition provided in that document for sustainable development is “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the future generation’s ability to meet their needs.” Our Common Future is also known as the Brundtland Report, in honor of Gro Harlem Brundtland the former Prime Minister of Norway. Brundtland and the other major contributors to Our Common Future were well known Socialists who advocated openly for the Socialist agenda.

This was followed up by the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. One of the statements from that UN sponsored meeting stated, “The current lifestyle and consumption pattern of the affluent middle class including high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning and suburban housing are not sustainable.”

According to Runzau, this indictment of the American lifestyle has great support in the UN and on the international level. These ideas found support in, and affected the thinking of, our national congress and filtered down to state governments and then to local and municipal governing bodies. He expressed doubts that most local members of city and county governments have a good idea behind the basic premises of sustainable development.

Runzau claimed that the end result of sustainable development is control of the people by taxation, regulation, and central planning. He also warned against the property owners entering into a conservation easement. Such an easement, if granted by the property holder, would deny the owner the ability to build on their property for as long as they own the property.

He cautioned the group about these concerns: Housing costs being artificially inflated, property right infringement, increased government regulation, higher taxes, loss of individual freedom, loss of sovereignty and self-determination and most frightening, indoctrination of our children. He pointed out the many textbooks used in public schools treat sustainable development very favorably and the Kansas state standards for the Science curriculum advocate for sustainable development.

He urged people to: become educated in this matter, be aware of what is going on, contact local, state, and national representatives, run for local office and support appropriate legislation.

He offered a recent situation in his home town of Valley Center as an example in overregulation by local governments. An acquaintance of his wanted to install a batting cage for use by the youth in Valley Center. When he approached the city officials for permission, the city planner presented him with a long laundry list of rules, regulations, liabilities and such and he was told it would be at least six months before he could begin work on the project. Unhappy with that scenario, he went down the road a few miles to Park City and submitted the same proposal. Park City does not have a city planner and welcomed him enthusiastically and provided great encouragement for him to start as soon as possible.

When asked about the three mile zoning possibility, Runzau said “I do not believe an elected official should be able to legislate for people for whom they did not or could be elected by.”

Summing up, Runzau said, “Challenge what you are being told by your elected officials. You deserve to have proof and validation of other people’s claims.”

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA