Posted on 04/24/2010 8:10:56 PM PDT by rhema
The global-warming crusade has suffered a devastating blow in recent months. Its credibility has plummeted with each new headline about its gatekeepers' scientific shenanigans. But the scandal hasn't stopped the environmental avant-garde from moving on to an even more ambitious agenda. On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the quest to "save the Earth" is morphing into the hot new cause of "sustainability."
We're in the midst of the United Nations' "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development." Across the Atlantic, the European Union trumpets its "sustainable development strategy." Here at home, American colleges and universities are scrambling to climb on the bandwagon. Organizations promising to usher in a brave new dawn include the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development and the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium.
Sustainability isn't just about new, improved ideas for composting and green building design. For true believers, the word's beauty is its open-endedness. In many cases, folks with a burning desire to transform the world are using the concept to piggy-back on legitimate environmental concerns and open the door to every left-wing cause under the sun. One observer put it succinctly: Sustainability is "a bucket with no bottom."
One example: At a "Tools for Social Justice Conference" in 2006, Keith Edwards of Macalester College and Kathleen Kerr of the University of Delaware revealed the all-encompassing nature of the sustainability movement's agenda. It's a myth, they instructed their audience, that "sustainability is mostly about the environment." The concept's reach extends to issues ranging from "environmental racism" and "domestic partnerships" to "fair trade" and "gender equity."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
In the name of sustainability, students were pressured to embrace university-approved dogma on race, same-sex marriage and wealth redistribution. Dorm resident advisers interrogated them with questions such as "When did you discover your sexual identity?" Underclassmen were expected to develop ideological "competencies" like the following: "Each student will recognize the benefits of dismantling systems of oppression." Eventually, a public outcry led to modifications in the program.
“Sustainability” is another word for central planning and marxism.
ping for later
” institutions such as the University of Delaware.”
Remember, parents, state schools may be “cheaper” than Harvard, but they’re not necessarily less Communist.
Not for too much later I hope, she’s getting flamed pretty badly by the Commies;)
I am boycotting anything with the words “sustainability” or “green” in the name or description.
I have recognized “sustainability” as a liberal buzz word for post modernist social justice, but I really didn’t comprehend how important the word is to the watermelon environmentalists.
Actually, they have developed a whole language of terms relating to post modernist thought, social justice, and sustainability. The terms allow the believers to feel superior to the unenlightened masses and link them together like a secret code.
Government spending is more unsustainable. And real.
Katherine, love your Strib columns, but I started hearing “sustainable” as a leftist buzzword about 10 years ago...where ya been?
What a pathetic idea.
““Sustainability” is another word for central planning and marxism.”
Marx would be beaming about the progress made under the sustainability banner. Even business schools have embraced the sustainability banner. Here is the sustainability specialization in the MBA program at the University of Colorado Denver.
http://www.business.cudenver.edu/Alumni/AlumniCertificate/Cert_Sustainability.html
I am not sure if the faculty teaching in this program believe this nonsense or just see a way to survive in the movement towards Marxism. Some of my conversations with my colleagues have been informative. One finance professor told me that the energy crisis would be solved if only we had embraced government control of the energy industry in the 1980s. He advocated high energy taxes and government mandates on energy production and consumer products to transform the economy. I told him that Europe has imnposed high energy taxes for decades without any progress. He did not have an answer for me.
>>>Underclassmen were expected to develop ideological “competencies” like the following: “Each student will recognize the benefits of dismantling systems of oppression.” <<<
Damn! What a shame that I’m 54 years old! In my youth, such an arrogant and obviously rude declaration from the authorities would have immediately led me to state that THEY were oppressing me with THEIR system of conformity, and that would have led to creative protest and street theater mocking their sneering elitism. Man, it would have been fun just seeing their hip little frowns when confronted with a complaint about “lack of tolerance for diverse viewpoints.”
Which is, sadly, the problem with conservatives in general, of which I consider myself to be. We need to embrace the rules for radicals and use them against the dictatorship of the left. The best two rules against the left: always use the values of the enemy against them, and ridicule is impossible to defend against. The left is an implacable destroyer of cultures around the world; they have had their eyes on undermining American republican values for decades, since we stand against them. We don’t win brownie points for politeness and upright behavior. If the left succeeds in complete destruction of the country I love, they will be no more benevolent here than they were in Cuba or Cambodia or Venezuala.
Hopefully, though, my son will follow in my footsteps.
Thanks. Glad it’s starting to creep into the LSM. It’s taken them a while to catch on - something loggers, farmers, small business’s etc., have being dealing with for years and many to their detriment
And at their root, all central planners are merely looters. Some of them realize it (the cynics) and some don’t (dreamy eyed true believers). All are to be avoided.
I asked my sister about the Residence Life Program because she knew several U.Delaware students who graduated from there a few years ago. She said that the program was all over the news in the Delaware Valley because some of the students refused to participate and answer the questions. I’m amazed that there weren’t law suits regarding the privacy rights of the students.
Not for too much later I hope, she’s getting flamed pretty badly by the Commies;)
Well, I had stuff to do today. It appears the commies had nothing better to do than sitting in Mommie’s basement and flaming this lady.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.