Sustainable Development:
A Global Agenda Structured On Population Control

A movement of vital proportion, ignored by the major media, kept off-limits from the general public, has been on the United Nations (UN) drawing board for well over ten years. This movement would nullify our Constitutional structure with its freedoms and prerogatives enshrined in the Bill of Rights, including our unhampered right to religious freedom. It masquerades behind the facade of "sustainable development."

In December 1983, Javier Perez de Cuellar, UN Secretary-General, asked Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway, to chair a World Commission on Environment and Development (UNCED) focusing on "long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by the year 2000 and beyond."¹ Previously she had been Prime Minister of Norway and had served on other UN Commissions - the Brandt Commission on North-South Issues and the Palme Commission on security and disarmament. Now she was asked "to help formulate a third and compelling call for political action" on environment and development."²

Here a one-world pattern begins to emerge: the Brandt Commission bore the title "Program for Survival and Common Crisis"; the Palme Commission "Common Security"; and the Brundtland Commission, "Common Future"³ There is also a political cord common to the chairmen: Willy Brandt, former Prime Minister of Germany, was until his death president of the Socialist International. Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, was a socialist leader and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party who was assassinated in Stockholm. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway was also a "member of the Socialist International." These chairmen shared the bond of socialism, a bond at variance with both the U.S. Constitution and the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church.

The Resolution adopted at the UN General Assembly in 1983 directed the chair and vice-chair of the new UNCED to "jointly appoint the remaining members of the Commission, half of whom were to be selected from the developing world."⁴ Members of the Brundtland Commission came from 21 "very different nations" and included Jim McNeill and Maurice Strong from Canada and the American, William D. Ruckelshaus, the first head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (ERA). He is also a member of the Business Council for Sustainable Development launched in 1990 by Maurice Strong. The Business Council called for "new forms of cooperation between government, business and society to achieve sustainable development."⁵

What Is Meant By Sustainable Development?

The Brundtland Commission describes Sustainable Development as "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."⁶ It is further defined: ". . . Sustainable Development can only be pursued if demographic developments are in harmony with the changing productive potential of the ecosystem."⁷ And again, . . . "at a minimum Sustainable Development must not endanger the natural systems that support life on Earth - the waters, the soils, and the living beings" The pattern that begins to surface here becomes more pronounced in the body of the Commission's report which was presented to the UN General Assembly in 1987.

The thrust of the "unanimous report" after three years of hearings held on five continents appears in the Chairman's Foreword in comments such as "the rights of people to adequate food, sound housing, safe water, to access to means of choosing the size of their families" (xi); ". . . survival issues relating to uneven development, poverty and population growth" (xii); "the need for 'major changes' . . . in attitudes and in the way our societies are organized" (xiii).⁸

Following the Chairman's Foreword, an "Overview By The Commission Members" becomes more specific: ". . . Sustainable Development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change. . . . We do not pretend that the process is easy or straightforward. Painful choices have to be made. Thus in the final analysis, sustainable development must rest on political will."⁹ "Governments that need to do so should develop long-term multifaceted population policies and a campaign to pursue broad demographic goals to strengthen social, cultural and economic motivations for family planning, and to provide to all who want them the education, contraceptives and services required."¹⁰

Dispersed throughout the 400 pages of Our Common Future are so many references to population: "Population and Human Resources," "The Population Perspective," "Managing Population Growth," as to suggest a pre-conceived agenda. At the conclusion of its final meeting held in Tokyo in 1987, the Commission recommended "principles to guide their policy actions" including Principle #4 to "Ensure a Sustainable Level of Population" "Population policies should be formulated and integrated with other economic and social development programmes. . . . Increased access to family planning services is itself a form of social development that allows couples, and women in particular, the right to self-determination."¹¹

A Brundtland Commission recommendation that the UN General Assembly prepare a "Universal Declaration on environmental protection and sustainable development" resulted in the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The Canadian, Maurice Strong, a radical environmentalist who had served on the Brundtland Commission, was selected secretary-general. "According to an Associated Press report, Strong declared: 'the United States is the greatest threat to the world's ecological health. . . . In effect, the United States is committing environmental aggression against the rest of the world.'"¹²

At the opening session of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (The Earth Summit) Maurice Strong, the UNCED Secretary-General, bemoaned the world's "explosive increase in Population" and warned "we have been the most successful species ever; we are now a species out of control. Population must be stabilized and rapidly."¹³

Sustainable America - A New Consensus

A few months after his inauguration as President of the United States, Bill Clinton, June 23, 1993, created by Executive Order #12852, the President's Council on Sustainable Development which identifies with the Brundtland Commission. The Council's We Believe Statement "is a set of fundamental beliefs the members share that provide the foundations for its recommendations." Statement #11 is concerned with population: "The United States should have policies and programs that contribute to stabilizing global human population; this objective is critical if we hope to have the resources needed to ensure a high quality of life for future generations."¹⁴

This emphasis continues under "U.S. Population and Sustainability":

"A sustainable United States is one where all Americans have access to family planning and reproductive health services. . . "

"Population growth will make the objective of sustainable development more difficult"¹⁵

"Continued population growth in the United States steadily makes more difficult the job of mitigating the environmental impact of American resources and waste production patterns."¹⁶

"As recognized at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 all nations have responsibility for managing population growth. The United States must provide leadership by setting an example."¹⁷

"Involving as it does difficult issues as personal childbearing decisions, contraceptive methods, teenage sexual behavior and the high rate of abortion in the United States . . . the Council believes these issues . . . must be addressed . . . in a way that is consistent with the various religious and ethical values and cultural background of the American people. . . . The Council has not discussed nor do its recommendations relate to or take a position on the issue of abortion."¹⁸

"The nation's family assistance efforts must provide education and outreach to prevent unintended pregnancies. . . . An effective way to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and births in the United States is to expand access to family planning education and related reproductive health services. . . . Family planning is highly cost-effective compared with the social and public costs of unintended pregnancy, and it helps assure that every child is a wanted child."¹⁹

The President's Council Acknowledges Gore's Role

The leadership role Vice President Al Gore has acquired in promoting the environmental picture is recognized in the President's Council on Sustainable Development's (PCSD) Building On Consensus - Progress Report on Sustainable America. It declares that sustainable development is "both urgent and important" and "will be a foundation for both domestic and foreign policy."²¹ Gore is given credit for "champion(ing) the cause of sustainable development at the Earth Summit" in Rio.²² As Vice President, Gore created an Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development which provided the President with "the raw material needed to ensure that the goals and principles of sustainable development (were) integrated into (his) second term agenda."²³

Upon receipt of the PCSD report, Clinton requested among three items "that the Vice President lead the effort to implement recommendations with the administration."²⁴

In 1992 Gore had authored the book Earth In The Balance: Ecology And The Human Spirit. In the chapter "Environmentalism of the Spirit" he questions whether God "when giving us dominion over the Earth . . . chose an appropriate technology."²⁵ Gore wrote "that monotheism was once useful because it was a profoundly empowering idea" However, he says " 'empowerment' must now be obtained by consulting 'the wisdom instilled by all faiths.'" "This panreligious perspective" he continues, "may prove especially important where our global civilization's responsibility for the earth is concerned."²⁶

"We must all become partners in a bold effort to change the very foundation of our civilization. . . . We must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization."²⁷ These are disturbing statements. The use of the word "must" should not be dismissed lightly especially in the context of changing the very foundation of our civilization.

"THE FAMILY - THE HEART OF THE CULTURE OF LIFE" - John Paul II

Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has on numerous occasions directed attention to the Church's constant teaching on the dignity of the human person and the assault on that God-given dignity by national governments and the United Nations.

In 1991, four years after the publication of the Brundtland Commission report. Pope John Paul II commemorated the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum by promulgating the encyclical Centisimus Annus. This doctrinal teaching is also relevant to the President's Council on Sustainable Development which identifies with the Brundtland Commission report.

Centisimus Annus teaches: "Although people are rightly worried . . . about preserving the natural habitat of the various animal species . . . too little effort is made to safeguard the moral conditions for an authentic 'human ecology' " (n. 38 emphasis in original). "The first and fundamental structure for 'human ecology' is the family. . . . Here we mean the family founded on marriage. . . . But it often happens that people are discouraged from creating the proper conditions for human reproduction and are led to consider themselves and their lives as a series of sensations to be experienced rather than a work to be accomplished" (n. 39).

". . . In the face of the so-called culture of death, the family is the heart of the culture of life. Human ingenuity seems to be directed more towards limiting, suppressing or destroying the source of life - including recourse to abortion. . . . The encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis denounced systematic anti-child-bearing campaigns which on the basis of a distorted view of the demographic problem (forces the parties involved) . . . to submit to new form(s) of oppression" (n.39).

In June 1997, the Holy See was represented at a UN General Assembly reviewing that body's commitment made at the 1992 Rio Summit on Environment and Development. Archbishop Jean-Louis Taurant, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, speaking at the plenary session, directed attention to the "reservations and interpretations made by the Holy See at the time of the recent international conferences of the United Nations which let us not forget - are included in the same conference reports" (emphasis added).

"I am thinking specifically of the interpretation of terms such as 'reproductive health,' 'sexual health,' and 'family planning' which we find in this meeting's document."²⁸

Science And Religion: An Ecological Alliance

Beginning in 1982, plans were crafted to draw religious leaders into the UN orbit on the environmental issue, using a series of UN-sponsored committees and meetings. A UN Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development was created "to provide information on global survival issues to parliamentarians, spiritual leaders and the media, and to fund network meetings at national, regional and global levels' This committee was funded by the UN Population Fund and a special trust fund established by the UN Development Fund.²⁹

A Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders On Human Survival formed in 1988 was cosponsored by the Temple of Understanding and the above-mentioned UN Global Committee. The president of the Temple of Understanding (located at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City) is the Very Reverend James Parks Morton, former Dean of the Cathedral and co-chair of the Council of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival. This Global Forum held meetings at Oxford, England (1988) and in Moscow (1990).

The principal speaker at Oxford, James Lovelock, a Fellow of the Lindisfarne Association (a New Age group headquartered at the Cathedral) had authored the book The Ages of Gaia. He told his Oxford audience "on Earth she (Gaia) is the source of everlasting life and is alive now; she gave birth to humankind and we are part of her"³⁰ Lovelock believes "Orthodox Christianity properly understood is a distortion of the pure forms of religious truth" and that "we must immediately return to the worship of the Earth goddess if we are to save ourselves from destruction."³¹

The Moscow Forum in 1990 "featured Mikhail Gorbachev and the then-UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. It was sponsored by the Supreme Soviet and the International Foundation for Survival and Development along with the UN Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development.³² Gorbachev called for "each nation to produce state of the environment reports at the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and he reiterated his earlier call for a UN 'Green Cross. . . .'" "The primary thrust of this Forum was to explore the role the news media could play in promoting global survival 'and especially sustainable development'."³³

An appeal was also launched for "science and religion to 'join hands' in a new ecological alliance." The Rev. James P. Morton, former Dean of the Cathedral and co-chair of the Forum said, "We welcome the scientists' appeal and are eager to explore as soon as possible concrete, specific forms of collaboration and action. The Earth itself calls us to new levels of joint commitment."³⁴

Among religious leaders who signed the appeal document were (the late) Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago, and the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh. President Emeritus of Notre Dame University.

Religious Leaders Targeted To Create Consensus

Following the Moscow Forum Joint Appeal, a conference was held in May of 1990, in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the North American Conference on Religion and Ecology. "Designed to help the religious community enter into the environmental movement," an elaborate program took place at the Episcopal Washington National Cathedral and the Omni Shoreham Hotel under the banner "Caring for Creation." One of the stated goals was "to develop leadership networks for a regenerated Earth Community."

A special attraction was the appearance of Prince Philip of Edinburgh. The keynote address was delivered by Brian Swimme billed as "an expert on science and creation spirituality." Swimme, an associate for many years of the former priest Matthew Fox, has collaborated with the self-styled "geologian" priest Thomas Berry. The Director of the UN Environment Program was a speaker and the subject of another address was "Science and Religion Joining Hands to Save the Environment" Thus, links were established with the Moscow and Oxford Forums, the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Survival, and the Temple of Understanding.³⁵

The official program quoted both Thomas Berry and Gro Harlem Brundtland, chairman of the UN Commission that produced the report Our Common Future. A "reception honoring environmentally-concerned elected officials" was also an attraction: Senator Al Gore one of the two so honored.

Again in 1990, a coalition of 200 environmental organizations following the guidance of the Director of the Temple of Understanding's Joint Appeal, invited the "then-Senator Al Gore to a breakfast symposium . . . before he delivered a Sunday sermon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine." And in October, Senator Gore and three other senators arranged a Congressional breakfast that resulted in a decision to expand the Joint Appeal to initiate environmental programs; to measure interest in grassroots religious environmental activity; and to facilitate formal consultation between religious leaders and scientists."³⁶

In June 1991, at a meeting of religious leaders, scientists, and members of Congress a conclusion was reached: "We believe a consensus now exists at the highest levels of religious tradition that the cause of environmental integrity and justice must occupy a position of utmost priority for people of faith."³⁷

And thus the National Religious Partnership for the Environment came to be.

This Partnership is a "formal agreement" among four of the nation's largest religious organizations:

• U. S. Catholic Conference
• National Council of Churches of Christ
• Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
• Evangelical Environmental Network

The Union of Concerned Scientists enjoys a "special consultative relationship" with this National Partnership.

This Partnership is in the process of mailing "education and action kits to 53,000 congregations" estimated to "reach 100 million church goers" Paul Gorman, the Executive Director of the Partnership (and the 1990 Director of the Temple of Understanding's Joint Appeal) is quoted as saying "how people of faith engage the environmental crisis will have much to do with the future well-being of the planet and in all likelihood with the future of religion as well."³⁸

A 1993 press conference that followed the formal announcement of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment featured Vice President Gore who said this Partnership "will trigger the beginning of grassroots activity in tens of thousands of religious congregations across the country."³⁹

Dignitaries attending this announcement included Bishop James Malone, Youngstown, Ohio, and Dean James P. Morton who praised Gore "for the role he played in bringing the Partnership to life."⁴⁰

"Every Catholic parish plus every Reform and Conservative Synagogue in the nation is to receive Partnership kits, as well as teleconference and videos for Catholic dioceses, parishes and schools."⁴¹

NCCB/USCC Endorse Sustainable Development

The U.S. Catholic Bishops, in November, 1995, approved a program prepared by the USCC Department of Social Development and World Peace titled, "Let The Earth Bless The Lord: God's Creation And Our Responsibility." A cover letter included in this "parish resource kit" expressed gratitude "for the essential interfaith collaboration made possible through our membership in the National Religious Partnership for the Environment" It was signed by Most Rev. Theodore E. McCarrick, Chairman of the International Policy Committee and Most Rev. William S. Skystad. Chairman of the Domestic Policy Committee.

Although "sustainable development" appears repeatedly in this USCC "parish resource kit," no mention is made of the 400-page UN book Our Common Future, which the World Commission On Environment and Development published in 1987 which popularized the concept "sustainable development."

The title given the USCC article, "The Flourishing Of The Human Family - Protecting The Environment: the Sustainable Development Model," is itself a misnomer, a misconception. It fails to document that population control is the objective of the international body. This is an incredible lack of scholarship and a disservice to the laity which reflects poorly on the oversight responsibilities of the two archbishops who chair the international and domestic committees involved. (Note: See Section titled, "What Is Meant By Sustainable Development" above.)

Targeting Catholic Religious Orders For Consensus Building

In this unfolding documentation, religion emerges as an important factor in consensus building. A key-note actor in this development is 25-year-old, New-York-City-based Global Education Associates; Patricia M. Mische, president. In 1973, "when many religious orders sought GEA help in revisioning their charisms, missions and constitution in light of Vatican II mandates for bringing religious life into the Modern World," a GEA Partnership was formed.

GEA recognized "that religious orders with their dedicated members committed to global spirituality and a more humane and ecologically responsible world order represent(ed) a unique and providential fiber for the work of global systemic change. . . . The GEA Religious Orders Partnership provide(d) the forum through which the charism of religious life can address the global agenda and serve the global community."⁴² Today, 150 religious orders comprise this group.

The role Partnership plays in furthering the goals of GEA is shown in its Board of Trustees and its International Advisory Council. The 1997 Board of Trustees includes Patricia Mische, President; Sharon Frisch, C.S.J., Secretary-Treasurer; Dr. John Healey, Fordham University; Miriam Therese MacGillis, O.P., Director of Genesis Farm, Blairstown, N.J., a center for education in Earth stewardship.

Among the many names listed on GEA's International Advisory Council are Catholics usually identified as of the "left": Joan Chittister, O.S.B.; Robert Drinan, S.J.; Thomas Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop, Detroit; Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, President Emeritus Notre Dame University; Fr. Thomas Berry, who has stated: "I am united with GEA in its mission of building partnerships to influence the development of a more just and sustainable world order."⁴³

Berry, "a long-time friend," co-authored the 1992 book The Universe Story with Brian Swimme who teaches at the Institution on Creation Spirituality, Oakland CA, under the leadership of the former Dominican (now Episcopalian) priest, Matthew Fox. Donna Steichen in her landmark book. Ungodly Rage, finds a common bond between Fox and Berry in that both hold that "a post-Christian belief system is taking over - one that sees the earth as a living being -mythologically, as Gaia, Earth Mother - with mankind as her consciousness." Steichen remarks: "Such worship of the universe is properly called cosmolatry."⁴⁴

Berry, who also authored The Dream Of The Earth, commented recently: "Earth is a mystical presence' an illuminated presence; a sacred Presence. That's the way divinity works. We return to our Mother the Earth."⁴⁵ This remark gives substance to Steichen's observation.

"Thomas Berry's wisdom has been foundational in educating toward Earth literacy . . .. Through the insight of The Universe Story . . . students at Genesis Farm have gained a self-identification that is Earth-centered."⁴⁶ Genesis Farm founder, Sr. Miriam Therese MacGillis, O.P., is a close associate of Berry and promoter of his work, and is on the Board of Trustees of GEA as mentioned above.

At the 1997 GEA Religious Orders Partnership annual meeting, the keynote address was given by Nancy Sylvester, I.H.M., who for many years directed NETWORK, the Catholic Social Justice Lobby. Other Catholic speakers mentioned were Ethel Howley, S.S.N.D., a NGO representative; Monica McGloin, O.P., associated with Earth Centers; Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J., who gave an analysis of religious life as a "social movement."⁴⁷ (emphasis added)

The 1997-1999 Partnership for Action includes the following:

• To "promote and foster Earth spirituality and engage in activities that are ecologically responsive";
• To "initiate, facilitate and maintain communication between and among religious congregations who are responding to ecological concerns";
• To "collaboratively promote a UN Earth Charter";
• To "foster learning about global citizenship";
• To "promote support for the United Nations."⁴⁸

Promoting Partnership Between Un Agencies And Religious Groups

During May 3-7, 1997, GEA held a Religion and World Order Symposium co-sponsored by Fordham University Institute on Religion and Culture and the Center for Mission Research Study at Maryknoll. This was a "program of the Religious Council of Project 2000," which in turn is a "partnership between UN agencies and secular and religious nongovernmental organizations (NGO)." Initiated by GEA in 1990, the Symposium carries the endorsement of UNESCO's program on the Contribution of Religion to a Culture of Peace. "40 scholars from different religious traditions' approved recommendations that:

• A People's Assembly be established; The Security Council be restructured and the veto power be abolished;
• An Economic Security Council be established with democratic representation of the world's nations in addition to the G-7;
• The World Court of Justice be strengthened and all members of the United Nations accept its jurisdiction;
• New and reliable sources of financing be found;
• The establishment of a World Court on the Environment: an Earth Charter to complement the UN Charter; full support for and strengthening of the United Nations Environmental Program and full support of the 'Education For All' project of several UN agencies;
• We urge our religious leaders to give full support to the non-governmental organizations, (NGOs).. ..

This statement was signed by Dr. Patricia Mische, President of Global Education Associates; Dr. John Healey, Director of Fordham University Institute on Religion and Culture; Dr. Anne Reissner, Director of Study, Center for Mission Research and Study, at Maryknoll.⁴⁹

Both these sets of recommendations illustrate how GEA has used its Catholic Religious Orders Partnership as an instrument to promote "global systemic change"; to restructure and strengthen the UN; and through its "Earth Covenant" initiative to create worldwide support for the Earth Charter, all the while enhancing its own stature at the UN edifice on the East River.

Inasmuch as Global Education Associates is a UN accredited NGO, its influence in that body is substantial. Mische was one of seven NGO leaders invited to address the Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organizations (DPI/NGO) conference at the United Nations September, 1996. She recommended strengthening the role of NGOs in order "to advance a more effective and democratic United Nations."⁵⁰

The GEA Partnership agenda involving Catholic religious orders as well as the United States Catholic Conference (USCC), in association with the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (documented previously), should be matters of grave concern for all Catholics - laity, clergy and hierarchy. This Forum Focus issue highlights one of the significant factors contributing to the demise of religious orders in the United States. It reveals a virus infecting the life blood of our religious orders, namely, entanglement in advancing the UN political agenda.

The Earth Charter For Gaia And The Cosmos

GEA describes its 1998 Earth Covenant as a "Citizens' Treaty"; as a "process" for "building a broad-based movement for ecological security, sustainable development and systems of responsible global governance. . . ." Putting UN-speak aside, the objective of this consensus building is to give the impression of widespread public support for a UN Earth Charter.

This Earth Charter initiative was launched in 1994. "Backed by a grant from the Netherlands government, two international non-governmental organizations"

spearheaded the "process: the Earth Council chaired by Maurice Strong, and Green Cross International headed by Mikhail Gorbachev." The final step will lead "to the proclamation of a binding Earth Charter by January of the year 2000." Gorbachev's "Green Cross International, Global Education Associates and Project Global 2000 are working in partnership to achieve this goal" (emphasis added)⁵¹

Should the "promoters of the Earth Charter" succeed, their "notion of sustainable development would become a matter of international law. . . . It is "presented as a holistic concept - the UN conferences held during the 1990s . . . have been aimed at building a global consensus.' " As noted throughout this documentation, in all these conferences, "the top priority is accorded to curbing population growth, since the expansion of world population is deemed the root cause of world poverty and the greatest threat to global security."⁵²

Maurice Strong insists that this Earth Charter should set out the "basic principles for the conduct of nations and of peoples with respect to the environment and development, to ensure the future viability and integrity of the earth as a hospitable home for humans and other forms of life." As the Catholic World Report points out, it is intended to be a "historic document," a "new code of conduct," a "New Social Contract" aimed at imposing new standards on the activities of governments and even religious or-ganizations.⁵³

The introductory words of the Earth Charter (Benchmark Draft of March 18, 1997) read: "Earth is our home and home to all living beings. Earth itself is alive. We are part of an evolving universe"⁵⁴

There is a noticeable similarity here to comments made by the English scientist, James Lovelock, author of the book. The Ages of Gaia. He told his audience at the 1988 Global Forum at Oxford, England: "On Earth she (Gaia) is the source of everlasting life and is alive now; she gave birth to humankind and we are part of her" (Note: See section titled, "Science and Religion: an Ecological Alliance" above.)

In like manner, Gorbachev has stated: "We are part of the Cosmos . . . Cosmos is my God. Nature is my God. . . I believe that the 21st century will be the century of the environment, the century when all of us will have to find an answer to how to harmonize relations between man and the rest of Nature . . . We are part of Nature. . . "⁵⁵

And Maurice Strong, addressing the Rio Earth Summit called attention "to the declaration of the Sacred Earth" which had been part of the pre-Summit ceremonies: "The changes in behavior and directions called for here must be rooted in our deepest spiritual, moral and ethical values" The declaration states: "We must. . . transform our attitudes and values, and adopt a renewed respect for the superior laws of Divine Nature."⁵⁶

Francis Cardinal Stafford, while Archbishop of Denver, Co., writing in 1993 on "The New Age Movement" specifically mentioned paganism as a basic quality of this theosophy: New Agers "find their ideological allies in the 'Gaia' variant of the ecological movement. . . . The characteristic feature of the various expressions of (this movement)" he notes, "is their common reversion to the ancient pagan morality of responsibility to the cosmos."⁵⁷

The accuracy of the Archbishop's analysis is confirmed in the Gaia Peace Atlas, a radical socialist New Age publication which argues, "We need a radical change of direction - to global self-governance, decentralized societies and a partnership between human and Gaian ecosystems, leading to a peaceful world that encourages social justice through sustainable development."⁵⁸

In his Foreword to this Gaia Peace Atlas, the then UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar stated: "A consensus has emerged during the past forty years" that "a reliable system of international security, progressive disarmament and sustainable economic growth are acknowledged goals of all peoples of the world" He expressed the "hope that this fine document will make a significant contribution to knowledge of these goals both urgent and achievable."⁵⁹

The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, during the tenure of Dean James Parks Morton, is well-known for its earth-bound spirituality. Each year it offers a "Winter Solstice Whole Earth Christmas Celebration" which "puts the event in the church, but takes the church out of the event," as succinctly stated in the New York Times (Dec. 26, 1992). He also commissioned a Missa Gaia (Earth Mass) which is performed each year for the Feast of St. Francis, replete with singers, dancers, pets galore and as a high point, an elephant, camel and llama are paraded up the center aisle for a blessing. Widely known as the "green dean" Morton, founder of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, retired in January, 1997, but remains active in ecological matters.

New Age Spirituality At Baca Grande

Maurice Strong, a shrewd millionaire capitalist "with a passion for socialist one-world causes, is a radical environmentalist and New Age devotee."⁶⁰ As the result of a business deal. Strong acquired ownership of a "200,000 acre ranch called Baca Grande in Colorado. Now a 'New Age' center run by his wife Hanne" it attracts "Zen and Tibetan Buddhist monks, a breakaway order of Carmelite nuns and followers of a Hindu guru. . . "⁶¹

Both the New Age Aspen Institute and the Lindisfarne Association are part of the Baca Grande spiritual center located in this San Luis Valley. Maurice Strong, the Director of Finance of the Lindisfarne Association, is on its Board of Directors as was James P. Morton, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Lindisfarne, it should be noted, is patterned after New Age Findhorn in Scotland.

Strong and his wife see "the Baca serving as a model for the way the world should be - and they say - must be - if humankind is to survive."⁶² Hanne Strong "supports her husband's work on the Earth Charter by promoting 'spiritually based environmental education.'" She founded the Wisdom Keepers which convened for the first time at the Rio conference, then again at the UN Istanbul Habitat II conference in 1996.

The Earth Charter, Hanne Strong maintains, must "come to terms with the very concrete question of how we can develop the basis for sustainable life on earth." The Earth Charter therefore, must "articulate a new relationship between people and the earth."⁶³ The exemplary analysis in the Catholic World Report discloses that Hanne Strong's Wisdom Keepers authored the Declaration of Sacred Earth. A key sentence in that declaration "explains that the global crisis 'transcends all national, religious, cultural, social, political, and economic boundaries.'" The Catholic World Report observes: "If the crisis transcends religious boundaries, it follows that religion must bow before the solution to the crisis. If necessary, religions must sacrifice their own particular principles."⁶⁴ (emphasis added)

In Maurice Strong's April 8, 1997 speech introducing the Earth Charter to the UN, he said: "There is a need to address the fundamental ethical imperatives of sustainable development." And what are these ethical imperatives? Strong "spoke of 'ethics of participation'. . . and 'ethics of inclusion'. . . in order to 'foster a healthy balance between quality of life and quality of environment - because development must henceforth be in balance with 'Mother Earth.' It will 'develop a sense of belonging to the universe."'⁶⁵ Thus the Earth Charter and sustainable development are part of the same package, which it should be repeated includes population control. The tenets of the New Age Movement are threaded throughout this documentation.

World Goodwill, New Age Theosophy Permeate The United Nations

The proposed Earth Charter melds neatly with the 1980 UN report. The New International Economic Order: A Spiritual Imperative which clearly was influenced by Alice Bailey. The 1980 report states ". . . Today a new understanding of spirituality is emerging which recognizes that all efforts to uplift humanity are spiritual in nature. Alice Bailey said, 'That is spiritual which lies beyond the point of present achievement'; . . . Given this new understanding of spirituality, the work of the United Nations can be seen within the entire evolutionary unfolding of humanity. The work of the UN is indeed spiritual and holds profound import for the future of civilization."⁶⁶

Alice Bailey, a theosophist along with her husband Foster, established much of what is now known as the New Age Movement. Originally, they founded the Lucifer Publishing Company but shortly thereafter, discretion dictated the name change to Lucis Trust (cf. Forum Focus, Oct. 1991 issue The New Age Movement). It has served as a catalyst for a number of New Age organizations including World Goodwill. One of Goodwill's stated objectives is "to support the work of the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies as the best hope of a united and peaceful world"; another is "to make available up-to-date information on constructive current conditions in the main areas of human life through publication of a quarterly newsletter." It also publishes Occasional World Goodwill Papers.

As an accredited UN non-governmental Organization (NGO) it maintains relations with a wide range of national and international NGOs. The World Good' will Newsletter which highlights UN addresses also featured excerpts from Alice Bailey's writings. A few examples will suffice: A 1988 Newsletter on Global Survival held at Oxford to which World Goodwill was a media guest featured James Lovelock speaking on "Gaia and the Reintegration of Religion and Science." In addition. Dean James P. Morton was interviewed about the Oxford conference in regard to ways in which "parliamentary and spiritual leaders" could work together "for the salvation of the planet."

A 1989 Occasional Paper presented "A Cosmo-logical Vision of the Future" an address given by Robert Muller, who had served in the UN bureaucracy for 38 years and was an Assistant Secretary-General from 1982 to 1985. He now heads the United Nations University in Costa Rica. In his remarks he mentioned the Gaia hypothesis. ". . . We are part of a living planetary organization . . . When we die we return to the Earth . . . We are Earth alive . . . All over the world a kind of Earth democracy is taking shape" He mentioned Fr. Thomas Berry's book. The Universe Story, and the need for a "world of cosmic spirituality."

A 1991 Occasional Paper contained the address given at Cambridge, England, by Gro Harlem Brundtland on "Environmental Challenges of the 1990's: Our Responsibilities Toward Future Generations" which echoed the UN book. Our Common Future, the report of the commission she had chaired. (Note: On Jan. 27 of this year, Gro Harlem Brundtland was appointed chairman of the UN World Health Organization which places her in a key position for the implementation of sustainable development on a worldwide basis.)

World Goodwill interviewed Maurice Strong for another 1991 Newsletter which concentrated on the Rio Summit conference. He repeated his position that ". . . the earth is incapable of supporting a global population of approximately twice today's numbers that demographers predict . . . Sustainable development implies a balance between our personal aspirations and a consideration of the ecosystem on which our survival depends."

A 1995 Newsletter under the caption "Recommended Reading" mentions a 1995 book co-authored by Patricia Mische titled. The United Nations In An Interdependent World. This report from a six day symposium organized by GEA with the support of 15 UN agencies and 10 NGOs reveals where GEA's interest really is.

A 1996 Newsletter on Universal Ethics includes "Reflections" by Mikhail Gorbachev who comments on conditions for preserving life on Earth: "Honouring diversity and honouring the Earth create the basis for genuine unity."

Patricia Mische states: "We do not need a return to the external facades of religiosity. But we do need to resume the spiritual journey . . . with new, global parameters" All these UN supporters speak with the same voice - the voice of theosophy that rejects Christianity. Patricia Mische's earlier Catholicism is alluded to in the September-December, 1997, issue of GEA's Breakthrough News in regard to the death of Bishop Joseph Francis, auxiliary of Newark, NJ, who had confirmed her three daughters in his private chapel.

An example of the unity of purpose that pervades much of this documentation is the announcement GEA will present the 1998 Jerry Mische Global Service Award to Thomas Berry.

The United Nations Association of the US (UNA-USA), "the premier pro-UN lobby group in America claims . .. a 135 member Council of Organizations and operates in New York and Washington, D.C. . . . and is now 'creating a powerful national constituency for an even better UN/ Some of the 135 member groups include the American Humanist Association, Planned Parenthood Federation and the U.S. Catholic Conference."⁶⁷

The willingness of the USCC (the civil arm of the Bishops' Conference) to be "politically correct," as mentioned previously in regard to its membership in the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, and its incredible endorsement of "sustainable development" is indicative of a lack of scholarship.

John Paul II's Address To Un General Assembly

In contrast, our Holy Father's message of October, 1995, delivered to the United Nations General Assembly imparts profound wisdom and encouragement for American Catholics. He stated, "The United Nations Organization needs to rise more and more above the cold status of an administrative institute and become a moral center where all the nations of the world . . . develop a shared awareness of being, as it were, a 'family of nations'" (n. 14).

"The politics of nations, with which your organization is principally concerned, can never ignore the transcendent spiritual dimension of the human experience and could never ignore it without banning the cause of man and the cause of human freedom" (n. 16).

"We must overcome our fear of the future. . . . The answer to that fear is neither coercion nor repression, nor the imposing of one social 'model' on the entire world. The answer to that fear . . . is the common effort to build the civilization of love. . ." (n. 18).⁶⁸

George Weigel writing in Crisis magazine December, 1995, noted: "The Holy Father knows full well that the UN bureaucracy and its functional agencies . . . are shot through with corruption. Then there was the attempt by the international lifestyle Left, aided and abetted by the UN bureaucracy, to highjack the 1994 UN population conference at Cairo, the 1995 Copenhagen 'Social Summit,' and the Beijing world conference on women . . . the Pope knew to whom he was talking at Turtle Bay. And as one who believes that his own peacemaking efforts in the Balkans have, at times, been obstructed by the UN, John Paul knows all about the organization's deficiencies in fulfilling its charter's basic mandate. . . ."

"Thus the Pope's call to the UN to develop a shared awareness of being . . . a 'family of nations' should be taken as a polite demur on the UN's grandiose plans to turn the UN into a world government. . . ."⁶⁹

His stirring words to Catholics of America are a beacon and a challenge in countering the UN concept of "sustainable development" that has penetrated our Church and society:

"Always be convincing witnesses to the truth. Stir into a flame the gift of God . . . Light your nation - Light the world - with the power of that flame. Amen"⁷⁰

- Laurene Conner

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President's Council Policy Recommendations

Action 1. "Congress should authorize and sufficiently fund national family planning services to ensure that all women and men, regardless of income, have access to family planning and related reproductive health care options."

Action 2. ". . .access to appropriate services should be provided to adolescents who are sexually active."

Action 3. ". . .The public and private sectors can reform health insurance coverage to insure that all recipients are afforded choices among the broadest range of safe, voluntary reproductive health services. The Medicaid program also should be reformed. . . ."

Action 4. ". . . .Congress should fund- federal medical research laboratories, public-private partnerships, and other innovative arrangements. . .to expand the range of medically safe contraceptives available to women and men."²⁰

End Notes

¹ Our Common Future - World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford University Press, printed in Great Britain in 1987 (reprinted 6 times, 1987; 3 times 1989), Chairman's Foreword, p. ix.

² Ibid., p.x.

³ Ibid., p.x.

⁴ Our Common Future, Annex 2, From One Earth to One World, p. 352.

⁵ A Report from the Business Council for Sustainable Development, Changing Course: A Global Business Perspective on Development And The Environment (MA: MIT Press, 1992). p. xi quoted in Global Tyranny . . . Step By Step, The United Nations and the Emerging New World Order, by William F. Jasper, Western Islands, Appleton, WI. 1992, p. 186.

⁶ Our Common Future. From One Earth To One World, An Overview. by the World Commission On Environment And Development, p. 8.

⁷ Ibid., p. 9.

⁸ Our Common Future. Chairman's Foreword, e.g., p. xi, xii, xiii.

⁹ Op. cit., p. 9.

¹⁰ Ibid., p. 11.

¹¹ Our Common Future, Annexes, p. 364, 365.

¹² Global Tyranny . . . Step By Step, by William F. Jasper, Western Islands Publishers, Appleton, WI, 1992, p. 10.

¹³ Ibid., p. 168.

¹⁴ Sustainable Development - A New Consensus, a 189 page Report of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, 730 Jackson Place N.W., Washington, D.C. 20503, Feb. 1996, p.vi.

¹⁵ Ibid., Chapter 6, US Population and Sustainability, p. 141, 142.

¹⁶ Ibid., p. 143.

¹⁷ Ibid.,. p. 144.

¹⁸ Ibid., p. 145-146.

¹⁹ Ibid., p. 146.

²⁰ Ibid., p. 147.

²¹ Building On Consensus: A Progress Report on Sustainable America, "Letter to the President," from President's Council on Sustainable Development, Jan. 10, 1997, p.i.

²² Ibid., p. iii.

²³ Ibid,, p. iii-iv.

²⁴ Ibid., Introduction, p. 1.

²⁵ Freedom on the Altar - The UN Crusade Against God and Family, by William Norman Grigg, American Opinion Publishing, Inc., Appleton, WI, 1995, p. 173-174 (Quoting the book. Earth in The Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, by Al Gore, Houghton Mifflin, 1992, p. 238.

²⁶ Ibid., p. 174.

²⁷ Ibid., p. 174.

²⁸ L'Osservatore Romano. Weekly Edition. Rome, Italy, Aug. 27, 1997, p.6.

²⁹ Update published by The Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, 345 East 45th St., New York , 10017, 1988, quoted in "The Rise of Global Green Religion," by Henry Lamb, ECO-logic Special Report, Environmental Conservation Organization, P.O. Box 191, Hollow Rock, TN 39342, Feb. 9, 1997, p.3.

³⁰ Shared Vision, Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1989, p. 3. quoted in ECO-logic Special Report, p. 4.

³¹ "What On Earth Is Gaia?" by Karen Kurth. Free World Research, Iowa Report. Box 4633, Des Moines. IA 50306, Dec. 1992, p.3.

³² "The Rise of Global Green Religion," ECO-logic Special Report, Feb. 9,1997, p. 4.

³³ Ibid., p.4.

³⁴ Shared Vision, Vol. 4, 1990, quoted in ECO-logic Special Report, p. 4. (see Note 31 above)

³⁵ Program "Caring For Creation - A Call To Become Involved In Environmental Action" May l6-19, 1990 (on file).

³⁶ "The Rise of Global Green Religion," ECO-logic Special Report. Feb. 9, 1997, p.4-5.

³⁷ Ibid., p. 5.

³⁸ Ibid., p. 3.

³⁹ Ibid., p. 5.

⁴⁰ Ibid., p. 5.

⁴¹ Statement of Goals. National Religious Partnership on the Environment. NRPE. P.O. Box 9105. Cambridge, MA 02238, quoted in "The Rise of Global Green Religion," ECO-logic Special Report. Feb. 9. 1997, p.5-6.

⁴² Breakthrough News, May-August 1997, "We Are Leaders; Why Are We Waiting?" published by Global Education Associates, 475 Riverside Dr. Suite 1848, New York, p.4-5.

⁴³ Ibid., back page.

⁴⁴ Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism, by Donna Steichen, St. Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, 1991, p.237.

⁴⁵ Homily delivered at concelebrated funeral Mass for his brother James F. Berry, Death Notices, The News Observer, Raleigh. NC. Sept. 12, 1997, p. 6B.

⁴⁶ Breakthrough News, GEA, May-August, 1997, p. 13.

⁴⁷ Ibid., p. 5.

⁴⁸ Ibid., p.4-5.

⁴⁹ Ibid., p. 9.

⁵⁰ Breakthrough News, GEA, January-April, 1997, p. 5.

⁵¹ Breakthrough News. GEA, Fall, 1994, p. 11.

⁵² "A New Social Contract" by Marguerite A. Peeters, Director of Social Studies for the Center of New Europe, a Brussels-based Policy Institute, Catholic World Report, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, July, 1997, p. 40-41.

⁵³ Ibid., p. 40.

⁵⁴ "The Earth Charter." ECO-logic, Environmental Conservation Organization. P.O. Box 191, Hollow Rock, TN 38342, May-June, 1997, p. 11.

⁵⁵ "The Rise of Global Green Religion," by Henry Lamb, ECO-logic Special Report. Environmental Conservation Organization, Hollow Rock, TN, 38342, Feb. 9, 1997, p. 9.

⁵⁶ "A New World Religion," by William F. Jasper, The New American, American Opinion Publishing, Inc., Appleton, WI 54914, Oct. 19, 1992, p. 26.

⁵⁷ "The New Age Movement - Analysis of a New Attempt to Find Solutions Apart from Christian Faith" by Archbishop J. Francis Stafford, L'Osservatore Romano. Italy, Jan. 27, 1993.

⁵⁸ The Gaia Peace Atlas - Survival Into the Third Millennium, Gaia Books Limited, London, published by Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, New York, 1988, p.216.

⁵⁹ Ibid., p. 8.

⁶⁰ Global Tyranny . . . Step by Step, by William F. Jasper, Western Islands Publishers, Appleton, WI, 1992, p. 123.

⁶¹ "Who Is Maurice Strong?" by Ronald Bailey, National Review, New York, 10016, Sept. 1, 1997, p. 33.

⁶² Op. Cit., p. 227.

⁶³ "A New Social Contract," by Marguerite A. Peeters, Director of Social Studies for the Center for New Europe, a Brussels-based Policy Institute, Catholic World Report, July, 1997, p. 42-43.

⁶⁴ Ibid., p.43.

⁶⁵ Ibid., p.43.

⁶⁶ Now the Dawning of the New World Order, by Dennis Laurence Cuddy, Ph.D., Hearthstone Publishing Ltd., P.O. Box 815, Oklahoma City, OK, 73101, 1991, p. 255-256.

⁶⁷ Global Bondage, the UN Plan to Rule the World, by Cliff Kincaid, Huntington House Publishers, Lafayette, LA 70505, 1995, p.35.

⁶⁸ "Building the Culture of Freedom," The Pope In America, Crisis Books, Notre Dame, IN, 1996, p. 9-24.

⁶⁹ Ibid., p. 151.

⁷⁰ Ibid., p. 157.

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MRS. LAURENE CONNER is one of the co-founders of the Wanderer Forum Foundation with her husband, the late Stillwell J. Conner and Alphonse J. Matt Sr., in 1965. She served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Foundation until 1995 and has been co-editor and research director for Forum Focus since its origin. Mrs. Conner also has written many articles and reported on many Church conferences for The Wanderer newspaper. Marshfield, Wisconsin, is her home and the center of her current research and writing activities.

The Wanderer Forum Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 542, Hudson, WI 54016-0542

The Earth Charter and the Ark of the Gaia Covenant

For those who may have dismissed the notion of a UN Agenda for a New World Religion used to usher in sweeping anti-constitutional environmental agreements, I offer the following.

“The real goal of the Earth Charter is that it will in fact become like the Ten Commandments.”

— Maurice Strong

“Do not do unto the environment of others what you do not want done to your own environment....My hope is that this charter will be a kind of Ten Commandments, a 'Sermon on the Mount', that provides a guide for human behavior toward the environment in the next century.”

— Mikhail Gorbachev, The Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1997

On September the 9th, 2001 a celebration of the Earth Charter was held at Shelburne Farms Vermont for the unveiling of the Earth Charter's final resting place. This "Ark of Hope" will be presented to the United Nations along with its contents in June of 2002. It is hoped that the United Nations will endorse the Earth Charter document on this occasion; the tenth anniversary of the UNCED Earth Summit in Rio.

Placed within the Ark, along with the Earth Charter, were various items called "Temenos Books" and "Temenos Earth Masks." Temenos is a concept adopted by Carl Jung to denote a magic circle, a sacred space where special rules and energies apply. Some of the Temenos Books were created within this magic circle by children, who filled them with visual affirmations for Mother Earth. Fashioned with the "earth elements", the Temenos Earth Masks were also worn and created by children.

Maurice Strong and the "Agenda"

In 1992 Maurice Strong was the Secretary General of the historic United Nations (UNCED) Earth conference in Rio. This gathering featured an international cast of powerful figures in the environmental movement, government, business, and entertainment. Maurice Strong's wife Hannah, was involved in the NGO alternative meeting at the Summit called Global Forum '92. The Dalai Lama opened the meeting and, according to author Gary Kah, to ensure the success of the forum, Hanne Strong held a three-week vigil with Wisdomkeepers, a group of "global transformationalists." Through round-the-clock sacred fire, drumbeat, and meditation, the group helped hold the "energy pattern" for the duration of the summit.

It was hoped that an Earth Charter would be the result of this event. This was not the case, however an international agreement was adopted – Agenda 21 – which laid down the international "sustainable development" necessary to form a future Earth Charter agreement. Maurice Strong hinted at the overtly pagan agenda proposed for a future Earth Charter, when in his opening address to the Rio Conference delegates he said, "It is the responsibility of each human being today to choose between the force of darkness and the force of light." [note: Alice Bailey, and Blavatsky before her, used these terms often. Their writings state that the 'force of darkness' are those who adhere to the 'out-dated' Judeo-Christian faith; those who continue along their 'separative' paths of the one true God. The 'force of light' (Lucifer), in their view, is the inclusive new age doctrine of a pagan pantheistic New World Religion. In the New Age of Aquarius there will be no room for the 'force of darkness' and 'separativeness'.] "We must therefore transform our attitudes and adopt a renewed respect for the SUPERIOR LAWS OF DIVINE NATURE," Strong finished with unanimous applause from the crowd.

Despite the disappointing setback of no official agreement toward a "peoples Earth Charter", Maurice Strong forged ahead, with Rockefeller backing, to form his Earth Council organization for the express purpose of helping governments implement UNCED's sustainable development which Agenda 21 had outlined. Agenda 21 was perhaps the biggest step taken to facilitate any future "enforcement" of a patently pagan Earth Charter. According to Strong "the Charter will stand on it's own. It will be in effect, to use an Anglo-Saxon term, the Magna Carta of the people around the Earth. But, it will also, we hope, lead to action by the governments through the United Nations."

ARK OF OUR DEMISE?

“Cosmos is my God. Nature is my God.”

—Mikhail Gorbachev, on the PBS Charlie Rose Show, Oct. 23, 1996

“A post-Christian belief system is taking over – one that sees the earth as a living being mythologically, as Gaia, Earth Mother – with mankind as her consciousness... Such worship of the universe is properly called cosmolatry.”

—Donna Steichen, Ungodly Rage, p. 237

Inside this ' Ark of Hope' the Earth Charter is handwritten on papyrus paper, and ready for presentation to the United Nations; the Ark along with it's Gaia "Ten Commandments" – a new covenant to which every nation must adhere. Each panel represents one of the five traditional elements of pagan worship: Water, Fire, Earth, Air and Spirit. According to the Ark of Hope website, the Ark's dimensions are 49" X 32" X 32" and it was crafted out of a single Sycamore plank. The obvious meaning behind the Ark of Hope is to mock God's own Ten Commandments and the Ark of the Covenant. In this context the choice of Sycamore wood for the Ark of Hope's construction is a revealing one. The Sycamore tree was sacred to most all the pagan religions in the middle east during biblical times, and in Egypt especially: To the Egyptians the Sycamore was a healing tree; The tomb of Osiris was built in Sycamore wood, and shaded by Sycamore trees; Burial in Sycamore coffins was a symbolic return into the womb of the mother goddess; The deceased hoped to live in the Sycamore tree. In the book of the dead there are examples of a letter the deceased would write to the Goddess of the Tree, containing a prayer so that she would provide water and air. ¹

The New Age and the Radical-Left 'Enlightenment'

The "For Love of Earth" day-long celebrations at Shelburne Farms Vermont began with an early morning pilgrimage during which 2000 or so participants, led by Satish Kumar, walked to the "great barn" where they were greeted by the sounds of the "Sun Song" played by musician Paul Winter. The Pagan festivities continued with the words of Dr. Jane Goodall, Satish Kumar and organizer Dr. Steven C. Rockefeller. The Earth worshippers were treated to dance, music and paintings of several Vermont artists, after which they joined hands and offered an "Earth prayer" of "reverence" and "commitment" to Mother Earth and the "Ark of Hope".

Satish Kumar, who led the early morning pilgrimage at Shelburne Farms, is an influencial advocate of Gaia. Kumar says that "contemporary thinkers of the green movement are collectively developing an ecological world-view." The Earth Charter is the green movement's crowning achievement toward this holistic world-view, and the practical means by which all of us will soon be held accountable to "Divine Nature". According to Satish Kumar,² this pagan view has five ingredients: Gaia (James Lovelock), Deep Ecology (Arne Naess), Permaculture (Bill Mollison), Bioregionalism (Gary Snyder et al.), and Creation Spirituality (Matthew Fox). "Creation Spirituality" is what had, undoubtedly, taken place at the Shelburne Farms Earth Charter celebrations. In the words of Steven W. Mosher, president of Population Research Institute, "Gaia is the New Age term for Mother Earth. The New Age believers hold that the earth is a sentient super-being, kind of goddess, deserving of worship and, some say, human sacrifice. Compared to Gaia worship, the simple animism of primitive cultures is wholesome."

Musician Paul Winter also has deep roots within the green movement and "creation spirituality." He has performed concerts at the Cathedral St. John the Divine in New York City, on the solstice and equinox, for well over twenty years. These pagan festivals, in a supposedly christian church nonetheless, are generously sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and a new age organization called the Lindisfarne Institute – the latter of which has its headquarters in the Cathedral. Maurice Strong is also a member of Lindisfarne (publishers of G-A-I-A, a way of knowing) along with Gaia theory biologist James Lovelock, and admitted Luciferian David Spangler, among others. Paul Winters' most recent concert at St. John the Divine was for the annual Earth Mass, on 7 October. ³ The fact that this annual October 7th Earth Mass coincides with the hindu Holy Day of Dassehra (worship of the Great Divine Mother) cannot be a coincidence. Winter and bandmates play a tune called Missa Gaia as part of the Feast of St. Francis. The Pope once attended the Feast of St. Francis at St. John the Divine in 1986. Stressing the unity of all the world's religions, John Paul II happily shared the platform with a Tibetan Lama, a Hindu swami, a Native American medicine man, and a Maori high priest.

The New American Insider Report of January 23, 1995 ⁴ writes that the historic Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine "has long been a center of New Age and radical-left 'enlightenment' and high-brow Establishment 'culture'." Author Gary Kah reports, in his well-documented book The New World Religion, that the Cathedral of St. John the Divine displays "a female Christ on the cross, complete with shapely hips and full breasts." Also in the same issue of The New American there is a list of donors to the Cathedral: Mr. and Ms. Steven Rockefeller is among them, along with Mr. Robert de Rothschild; David Rockefeller Jr.; Mrs. Mary C. Rockefeller; Mr. and Mrs. Laurance Spellman Rockefeller; Rockefeller Center Properties Inc.; The Rockefeller Group Inc. and many elite-of-the-elite organizations such as J.P. Morgan & Co.; Chase Manhattan Bank; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Hearst Corporation; CBS, Inc. and even, mysteriously, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), among others.

Earth Charter Commission Co-Chairs

The Earth Charter Initiative was launched in 1994 by Maurice Strong, his newly formed Earth Council and Mikhail Gorbachev, acting in his capacity as president of Green Cross International. In 1997, the Earth Council and Green Cross International formed an Earth Charter Commission to give oversight to the process.

1. Kamla Chowdhry, India
2. Mikhail Gorbachev, Russia
3. Mercedes Sosa, Argentina
4. Maurice Strong, Canada
5. Amadou Toumani Toure, Mali
6. A.T. Anyaratne, Sri Lanka
7. Princess Basma Bint Talai, Jordan
8. Leonardo Boff, Brazil
9. Pierre Calame, France
10. Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Canada
11. Wakako Hironaka, Japan
12. John Hoyt, U.S.A.
13. Ruud Lubbers, The Netherlands
14. Wangari Maathai, Kenya
15. Elizabeth May, Canada
16. Federico Mayor, Spain
17. Shridath Ramphal, Guyana
18. Henriette Rasmussen, Greenland
19. Steven Rockefeller, U.S.
20. Mohamed Sahoun, Algeria
21. Awraham Soetendorp, The Netherlands
22. Pauline Tangiora, New Zealand
23. Erna Witoelar, Indonesia

The Global Transformational Movement

A final version of the Earth Charter was issued by the Earth Charter Commission in March 2000. The Earth Charter "was drafted in coordination with a hard law treaty that is designed to provide an integrated legal framework for all environment development law and policy." This hard law treaty is called the International Covenant on Environment and Development and is being prepared by the Commission on Environmental Law at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a behemoth agency which oversees 700+ governmental agencies worldwide.

The Earth Charter, consisting of 16 principles, has its roots in the values of the Transformational Movement. Jan Roberts, president of the Institute for Ethics and Meaning describes this Transformational Movement as a paradigm shift from individualism, self-interest and separativeness, to unity, wholeness and community. Steven C. Rockefeller was the prime candidate for the leadership role as co-chair of the Earth Charter Steering Committee, the Drafting Committee and co-chair of the final Earth Charter Commission. Besides being a professor of Religion and Ethics at Middlebury College, expounding the virtues of "creation-centered theology," in his capacity as trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, his family's resources ensured the success of the project.

It's clear that the global transformationalists are promoting the Earth Charter as the "new scripture." At the presentation of the Ark, and its "new gospel" contents, we can expect that it will be endorsed by the U.N. The halls of the United Nations has long been a haven for New Age one-world religion spirituality. Former Secretary-Generals like Dag Hammarskjold (founder of the U.N. Meditation Room), U Thant and former Assistant Secretary-General Robert Muller have long been outspoken advocates of a new pantheistic global spirituality, using the U.N. as a vehicle to spread their doctrine.

The United Nations even has their own in-house prophet, Sri Chinmoy. This 70 year-old indian mystic is the official Spiritual Advisor to the United Nations. For the past 23 years he has offered prayer and meditation meetings for anyone to attend every Tuesday and Friday at the U.N. ⁵ Sri Chinmoy claims to have been Thomas Jefferson in a previous life, and he also claims to be the Spiritual Brother to Jesus Christ. ⁶ Chinmoy's disciples claim he's one of a handful of fully enlightened beings on the planet. Some disciples go so far as to claim he is an avatar, a living God. They meditate to a print of his face.

Perhaps the final resting place for the "Ark of Hope" will be in the United Nation's Holy-of-Holies, the U.N. meditation room. "We have the UN Meditation Room, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors a year," Robert Muller explains in his book Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality. "We have also a UN Meditation Group led by an Indian Mystic. One could tell several moving stories of the spiritual transformation the UN has caused, to the point that this little speck on earth is becoming a holy ground." (quoted in The New World Religion, by Gary Kah, p. 310)

To Sri Chinmoy and Robert Muller, world peace will ultimately depend "on divine and cosmic government" and an "alliance between all major religions and the U.N." Muller has gone so far as to call the U.N. "the body of Christ." The United Nations "will be the last word in human perfection," Sri Chinmoy proclaims, it will "stand as the pinnacle of divine enlightenment." ⁷

The Earth Charter stresses that man is his own saviour. By saving "mother earth" we will once again return to an idyllic Garden of Eden. But instead of worshipping the Creator, the New Age Aquarian conspirators wish to plunge us headlong into a creation-worship new world religion. "Little by little a planetary prayer book is thus being composed by an increasingly united humanity seeking its oneness," Robert Muller preaches. "Once again, but this time on a universal scale, humankind is seeking no less than its reunion with 'divine,' its transcendence into higher forms of life. Hindus call our earth Brahma, or God, for they rightly see no difference between our earth and the divine. This ancient simple truth is slowly dawning again upon humanity, as we are about to enter our cosmic age and become what we were always meant to be: the planet of God."

“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Romans 1:22-25 (KJV)

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(Note: The following is only an extract. For the full document, go here.)

“The Earth Charter: Building a Global Culture of Peace” Steven C. Rockefeller The Earth Charter Community Summits Tampa, Florida, September 29, 2001

This is a good time for interfaith dialogue involving Christians, Jews and Muslims and members of other religious traditions as well. The Earth Charter can be used as a catalyst for exploring common ethical values in these exchanges.

A year from now, the United Nations will convene the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and our government representatives should know that we want the United States to play a creative leadership role at this critical world meeting.

Thousands of local, national, regional, and international organizations have now endorsed the Earth Charter. The most recent endorsement has come from the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Invite your organization to consider endorsing the Earth Charter, if you have not already done so. The more support we have from civil society and local government, the greater the chance of endorsement by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002.

In my home state of Vermont, the Earth Charter is being transported across the state from town to town in a beautiful, handcrafted Ark of Hope by people walking in a spirit of peace. In addition to the Earth charter, the Ark of Hope contains the prayers and poems of many Vermonters. The global challenges before us are great, but if we unite behind the kind of vision affirmed in the Earth Charter, there are grounds for hope........ With reverence for the mystery of being and with reverence for life, let us resolve here today to commit ourselves anew to this great work.

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In response to the Sept. 11th attacks, the Vermont organizers carried the Ark to New York. The Ark of Hope was displayed at the United Nations from January 24th through February 19th.

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Essential Web Documents:

• Al Gore, The United Nations, and the Cult of GAIA
• Sustainable Development: A Global Agenda Structured on Population Control
• United Nations Shocking Millenium Agenda
• Pantheistic Evolution
• The Earth Charter: Agenda for Totalitarianism
• The New World Religion

Agenda-Driven Response: HAARP and the Army's Land-Grab in Colorado

Unfortunately, despite the government's responsibility to protect citizen's rights, it is blatantly obvious that the government is following an alternative, deliberately destructive agenda including: rural cleansing of the resource-producing population, economic destabilization, runaway inflation, unrestrained immigration, illegal surveillance, the NAU, deteriorating infrastructure, ethnic disparity, de-population through war, disease, toxicity, and chemtrails; selective response to "natural" disasters, destruction of the middle class, seizure of private property and obliteration of God-given liberties - all at the hands of an elite ruling class - crony monopoly capitalists and war profiteers, intent on stealing and controlling the earth's resources, a contrived diminishing food supply and the surviving useless eaters, still obedient and moderately productive. What happened to that illusive balance of power?

At the president's discretion, along with those covert councils who supervise him, and without congressional or constitutional oversight, fifteen Executive Branch Secretaries control all federal bureaucracies which exert dictatorial power over every aspect of our lives. These agencies and their many sub-agencies facilitate U.N. programs including Agenda 21, developed during the Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, June 3-14, 1992. These regulatory, metastasized Departments are: Agriculture (1889), Commerce (1903), Defense (1947), Education (1979), Energy (1977), Health and Human Services (1953), Homeland Security (November 25, 2002, absorbed FEMA in 2003 which was created by Presidential Order on April 1, 1979), Housing and Urban Development (1965), Interior (1849), Labor (1913), State (1789), Transportation (1967), Treasury (1789), and Veterans Affairs (1988), and the Attorney General (1789).¹

Significantly, under the Bilderberg-approved George W. Bush, cabinet-level status was granted to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, created December 2, 1970) and to the U.S. Trade Representative (1962).² In addition to power over our children through education, price of gas through manipulation of energy, etc., this allows a sitting president to bypass Congress regarding anything and everything that has to do with the environment - a veritable Pandora's Box. With cabinet-level status for the Trade Representative, the president may sign treaties without congressional approval. A declaration of war, once required, was quietly disbanded with the current, unconstitutional king's cabinet structure.

The elevation of the EPA was first attempted in March 1990 under G. H. W. Bush. He wanted it in time to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, 1990.³ Clinton also attempted to empower the EPA which, like FEMA and Nixon's 1972 Regional Councils, is divided into ten regions (for better control) - see maps. The EPA declares its Agenda 21 commitment, as noted on the web site.

The Army makes it perfectly clear that it intends to seize private property in southeastern Colorado. They don't "need" the land for training purposes - that is a pretext. They have sufficient mega military training bases in Iraq (along with the world's biggest and most expensive embassy), also on plundered land. The power of eminent domain is an oft-used seizure tactic; there are others. On February 4, 2008, Not 1 More Acre!, advocates for the beleaguered citizens of southeastern Colorado, said: "The Pentagon and its military contractors are continuing to push plans to more than triple the size of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado - in contravention of a law passed by Congress which forbids them to do so."

Remember, the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, since 1947, are under the jurisdiction of the king's cabinet. Congressional leaders, frequently indebted to campaign contributors and deep-pocketed lobbyists, go through the legislative motions and pass laws they can't or won't enforce. Many sincere officials are out-numbered by the compliant power-loving majority, who long ago abdicated their sworn responsibilities - just like those who handed America's financial resources to the Federal Reserve private bankers - the internationalist bankers who currently manage the president, his cabinet, elections and the monopoly media's talking heads.

Despite sounding conspiratorial, it is a fact that the U.S. has the capability of manipulating "the climate for military use." They have applied those "modification techniques" for "more than half a century" covertly maneuvering "weather patterns, communications and electric power systems as a weapon of global warfare, enabling the U.S. to disrupt and dominate entire regions" - against "enemy countries, friendly nations" or even, dare I say, the U.S. to "destabilize economies, ecosystems and agriculture."⁴

According to a top-secret congressional hearing held March 20, 1974, the military used weather modification in Vietnam and by 1977 was spending $2.8 million a year on weather-modification research; the same year that the United Nations banned the "hostile use of all environmental modification techniques." Allegedly, the U.S. discontinued all weather-modification research in 1979.⁵

HAARP, initiated in 1992 by Advanced Power Technologies, Inc. (APTI), a subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield Corporation (ARCO) "was developed as part of an Anglo-American partnership between Raytheon Corporation "which owns the HAARP patents, and British Aerospace Systems (BAES). The HAARP project is one among several collaborative ventures in advanced weapons systems between the two defense giants. APTI (including the HAARP patents) was sold by ARCO to E-Systems Inc, in 1994."⁶

"BAES was involved in the development of the advanced stage of the HAARP antenna array under a 2004 contract with the Office of Naval Research. The installation of 132 high frequency transmitters was entrusted by BAES to its U.S. subsidiary, BAE Systems Inc. and their Electronic Warfare division. In September 2007, BAE Systems Inc. received the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) top award for "outstanding leadership and engineering innovation in designing, constructing, and activating the Defense Department's High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) instrument." "HAARP, the world's largest and most capable ionospheric research facility, will serve the U.S. scientific and defense communities for the next 30 to 50 years." HAARP was dedicated June 27, 2007 and is "jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and DARPA.⁷⁸

The Department of Defense and the CIA, the president's enforcement agencies, has contracts with E-Systems, founded in 1964. The CIA is "the intelligence-gathering and covert-action arm of the president." It is not "some sort of independently run mythical loose cannon."⁹ E-Systems, owned by war-profiteer Raytheon since 1994, "manufactures and distributes electronic systems and communications networks, including electronic warfare equipment, navigation and reconnaissance machinery, and highly sophisticated spying devices."¹⁰ In the early 1970s, E-Systems installed communications equipment on the President's Air Force One.¹¹ This created an airborne command post for the Pentagon and the White House. This "Doomsday Plane" enables the president to manage a nuclear war.¹²

Although, there is no hard evidence that HAARP has or will be used for military purposes, the involvement of the Department of Defense would decidedly suggest such use. After all, they are not recognized for life and health improvement studies. Advanced technology and weaponry would provide ample opportunities to achieve their ultimate "full spectrum dominance," including the "globalization of the world's economy."¹³

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "has a mandate 'to assess scientific, technical and socioeconomic information relevant for the understanding of climate change.' This mandate includes environmental warfare. 'Geo-engineering' is acknowledged, but the underlying military applications are neither the object of policy analysis or scientific research in the thousands of pages of IPCC reports and supporting documents, based on the expertise and input of some 2,500 scientists, policymakers and environmentalists."¹⁴ How convenient - just ignore the horrific possibilities and implications.

HAARP was unable to detect the "precise location of tunnels and underground shelters which was defined as a "serious weakness in the Department of Defense plans for precision attacks on hardened targets and for counter proliferation." Therefore, increased funding of $75 million a year was allotted, in May 1994, for further research.¹⁵

Residents of southeastern Colorado had already suffered through seven years of drought, accompanied by major financial losses due to the skyrocketing cost of hay, for which there was no assistance.¹⁶ Benefits, financial or otherwise, are typically and repeatedly extended to well-connected corporations - rarely to independent, struggling producers.

Then in December 2006, two back to back blizzards delivered record snow volume of 3 to 4 feet, with snow drifts as high as 10 to 18 feet causing financial losses of at least $500 million, economically devastating the people.¹⁷ During the storms, between 10,000 and 15,000 cattle perished from starvation and exposure. The numbers increased as the snow melted and more carcasses were revealed. The area affected was home to "345,000 head of cattle and calves, 23,500 head of producing sows and 112,000 head of sheep and lambs."¹⁸ Livestock contributes 70% to Colorado's agricultural gross product."¹⁹

The record storms forced "the closures of Interstate Highways 25, 76 and 70, as well as U.S. Routes 350, 36 and 85." Following Holiday Blizzards I and II, as they were named, more than a foot of additional snow fell on January 4-5, bringing the total snowfall for 16 days to more than 80 inches in some areas.²⁰

On January 16, 2007, newly elected Governor Bill Ritter wrote to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns asking for federal "financial assistance to offset livestock and agricultural losses and to help prevent additional cattle deaths." Additionally, he sought funds to "help cover" the costs of "snow removal and emergency rescue operations." Ritter wanted the USDA to "declare the following counties disaster areas: Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Huerfano, Kiowa, Las Animas, Lincoln, Otero and Prowers counties,"²¹ some of the same land that the Army had targeted for seizure.

The federal government offered emergency "loans" to the ranchers and farmers, people who already had burdensome bank loans.²² The state also offered funds for "the rescue and recovery of livestock." But, the most immediate help came from other ranchers - neighbors helping neighbors. Legislation was approved for those who suffered livestock losses based on a presidential disaster declaration. Ranchers then counted on federal help.²³

Unfortunately, there were restrictions. According to their disaster declarations, "thousands of dead cattle" apparently were not "enough of a disaster" for the U.S. Department of Agriculture who "denied disaster relief and the attendant low-interest loans" to the ten Army-targeted counties devastated by the blizzards in southeast Colorado.²⁴ Lack of assistance might force some discouraged ranchers to sell their land. Although ranchers were not "holding their breath" for state or federal relief, such relief was desired and somewhat expected, given other disaster declarations programs instigated by FEMA and the USDA.²⁵

Governor Ritter expressed disappointment over assistance conditions that were impossible to meet. It was an additional setback to ranchers and farmers who watched their livelihoods dissolve after "prolonged drought followed by devastating storms." Ritter, along with a state delegation appealed the USDA decision against granting low-interest loans. However, the ranchers had "sustained such terrific losses that more bank loans" would not have kept "them from going under."²⁶

The Emergency Farm Relief Act of 2007, in the works for several years, would have provided payments to ranchers for livestock losses due to floods, wildfires, hurricanes and blizzards. However, USDA denial was based on its assessment that the counties had not suffered 30 percent production losses - not economic losses."²⁷ "One factor leading to the limited assistance was that livestock do not fall under USDA crop disaster designations, since livestock are not a crop."²⁸

Additionally, freezing rain during those December 2006 storms resulted in "significant ice accumulation" causing "tens of thousands of people" in the five affected states to lose electrical power, "paralyzing much of the Great Plains. Ice accumulation also downed trees and communication towers."²⁹

"The worst victims of the December storms, particularly in Colorado's High Plains, were cattle; thousands were trapped by heavy snow and strong winds, which created drifts up to 20 feet in some areas. Strong north winds caused unbelievable blizzard conditions, with drifts as tall as two-story buildings."³⁰

That blizzard may affect cattle reproduction for years to come. Bulls experienced reproductive problems "due to frozen testicles." Cows whose embryos died in early pregnancy due to the cold were vulnerable to deadly infections. Large numbers of "stillborn or aborted calves" resulted in a decreased "number of replacement females. Such reproductive problems resulting from the blizzard may have an economic impact for the next three to five years."³¹

Some hay deliveries arrived weeks later, too late for the deceased cows. "Some ranchers felt the distribution could have been timelier in execution. Ranchers and farmers have not received federal disaster relief and emergency aid, such as money for livestock rescue and recovery."³² Too little, too late - just like New Orleans and currently, Iowa. FEMA immediately responded on 9/11. Debris, which may have provided evidence, was hurriedly cleared away, an anomaly in such circumstances. The EPA, also very quickly, declared that the toxic air was harmless. People, trusting authority, accepted the falsehood. Many individuals developed serious health problems and have since died.

Colorado applicants for assistance had to leap through numerous hoops despite very public, appeasing, sympathetic rhetoric and philanthropic performances associated with the Presidential Snow Emergency Declarations. One may view the After Action Report. Yes, folks, we can trust the government - NOT!

HAARP: Part 1
HAARP: Part 2
Who's Controlling the Weather?
HAARP - Nature Modification Weapon
Chemtrails and Fort Carson
Just why/how did healthy, 51-year old Brig. Gen. Bruce Barlow (scroll down) die? He was stationed at Fort Carson.

Endnotes

1. ^ President Bush's Cabinet
2. ^ Ibid
3. ^ "House Panel Votes to Elevate The E.P.A. to Cabinet Status," New York Times March 14, 1990
4. ^ Michel Chossudovsky, "Weather warfare, Beware the US military's experiments with climatic warfare," December 7, 2007
5. ^ Drake Bennett, "Don't like the weather? Change it," July 3, 2005
6. ^ Ibid
7. ^ Ibid
8. ^ USA. BAE Systems space weather research facility wins top award
9. ^ Pete Brewton, The Mafia, CIA & George Bush, the Untold Story of America's Greatest Financial Debacle, 1992, Introduction
10. ^ The Princeton Review, Internship: E-SYSTEMS
11. ^ Brazil: Amazon Contractor Raytheon has CIA Ties by Pratap Chatterjee, Inter Press Service, December 3, 1995
12. ^ Chossudovsky, op. cit.
13. ^ Ibid.
14. ^ Ibid
15. ^ HAARP: Detection and Imaging of Underground Structures Using ELF/VLF Radio Waves
16. ^ State, ranchers fear record loss of cattle, Toll from snowstorms expected to rattle beef industry in Colorado by Deborah Frazier and David Montero, Rocky Mountain News, January 3, 2007
17. ^ Amy Gillentine, Colorado's ranchers face 7-figure losses because of last month's Snowfall
18. ^ Gov. Ritter Seeks Federal Aid For Livestock Losses, January 16, 2007
19. ^ USDA Press Release: USDA Approves Blizzard-Relief Loans To Ranchers In 10 Southeast Colorado Counties, January 26, 2007
20. ^ December 20-21, 2006 Colorado Blizzard
21. ^ Gov. Ritter Seeks ... op. cit.
22. ^ USDA Press Release, op. cit
23. ^ Amy Gillentine, op. cit.
24. ^ Editorial, Ranchers deserve federal aid, February 13, 2007
25. ^ Emergency Responses for High Plains Cattle Affected by the December 28-31, 2006, Blizzard by Bimal Kanti Paul, Deborah Che, and Vicki L. Tinnon, Department of Geography, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas Quick Response Research Report 191. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center
26. ^ Editorial, Ranchers deserve federal aid, February 13, 2007
27. ^ Ibid
28. ^ Bimal Kanti Paul et al, op. cit.
29. ^ Ibid
30. ^ Ibid
31. ^ Ibid
32. ^ Ibid

About the Author

Deanna Spingola has been a quilt designer and is the author of two books. She has traveled extensively teaching and lecturing on her unique methods. She has always been an avid reader of non-fiction works designed to educate rather than entertain. She is active in family history research and lectures on that topic. Currently she is the director of the local Family History Center. She has a great interest in politics and the direction of current government policies, particularly as they relate to the Constitution. Deanna's Web Site