Westminster, Maryland January 19, 2011. The Carroll County Board of Commissioners recently voted to withdraw their membership from the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). Members of the Board cited differences between sustainability and good environmental stewardship as the basis for their decision.
Commissioner Richard Rothschild has been vocal in his belief the sustainability movement as advocated by the ICLEI invokes government power to enforce activists’ views of environmentalism. “It merges environmentalism and socialism to expand government into too many aspects of our lives, including food production; transportation; housing; manufacturing; and energy.” Of greatest concern, it replaces farmers’, ranchers’, and landowners’ concept of land stewardship with government-centric control.”
Commissioner Robin Frazier agrees, “ ICLEI’s pro Agenda-21 movement advocates socialist policies that choke us to death with regulations; destroy our job-base; sap individual creativity; and steal our ever diminishing freedoms.”
Recent articles written about sustainability have questioned the goals of the movement and their relationship to environmental protection. In recent discussions, the Board of County Commissioners has decided the two are not aligned.
Board President Doug Howard expressed similar concerns. “I support measures to protect our environment, but I believe the ICLEI’s vision is incompatible with the rights and freedoms of our citizens.”