The Tea Party views efforts to address climate change, restore the environment, increase efficiency and develop using "smart growth" principles as a conspiracy against the American way of life.
They are disrupting attempts on the part of towns and cities across the country to prepare for rising sea levels and even to restore depleted oyster populations in Chesepeake Bay.
Last year, during the Denver mayoral race, a Tea Party candidate called a local bike-sharing program a "very well-disguised" plan to
"convert Denver into a United Nations community." Glenn Beck warned it would lead to "centralized control over all of human life on planet Earth."
It may sound funny, but as this week’s New York Times article, "Activists Fight Green Projects, Seeing U.N. Plot" points out, they are fighting everything from expanding public transportation routes to preserving open space, calling it a United Nations-led
conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.
One of their targets is ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA, which helps 550 local government members reduce their carbon footprint, protect clean air and water, increase energy independence and prepare for a changing climate, while becoming more economically competitive. Local tea party activists want their towns to stop paying dues to ICLEI.
"Across the country, we’ve witnessed a small but vehement group of activists who often resort to intimidation tactics to disrupt local planning meetings and halt healthy dialogue at a time when it is needed more than ever," says Michael Schmitz, Executive Director of ICLEI USA.
ICLEI is calling on community members nationwide to become more engaged in local government planning processes to help shape their future.
Read the NY Times article:
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