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A growing number of students in the Republic of Ireland are studying Chinese culture and language. As Ireland struggles out of a deep recession, it is looking to adapt to a new world order. The subject is being offered to younger pupils and will be included as a final year subject in due course. The new study module has been piloted in 20 schools in Ireland. More than 50 schools have signed up to deliver it.

Nearly 20 years ago Canadian Maurice Strong served as secretary general of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. Today he is meeting the Citizen’s editorial board to discuss the upcoming Rio Plus-20 gathering in Brazil next month. Joining him are Brice Lalonde, executive co-ordinator of the Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, and David Runnalls, executive director of Sustainable Prosperity in Ottawa.

<p>ROME - Governments are failing to fund projects to improve access to toilets and other sanitation services in poor countries because the subject remains "taboo", a director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said on Monday.</p>

An announcement of momentous import was made at the April 26th 2012 Board of County Commissioners meeting of Clackamas County, Oregon. Commissioner Jamie Damon revealed that Clackamas County would not be renewing their membership in “ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USA” at the next annual dues deadline. Commissioner Jamie Damon stated, “This was brought up several business meetings ago, and I was unfamiliar with the organization, so I did some research and looked up the organization as well. And we have decided to not continue as members of ICLEI. So I just wanted to let you know that.” The remaining...

The furor centered around a request by Geographic Solutions, a software company with 130 employees, to build a three-story building on Georgia Avenue in the Palm Harbor historic district. When the county originally granted approval, the proposed building was slated to have offices on the first two floors and a residential area on the third. Last year, the company wanted to substitute office space for the residential area on the third floor. That was not permitted by the 2001 Historic Palm Harbor Master Plan. County staff members recommended amending the master plan to include transferable development rights, or TDRs. A...

I came across a document this evening published in October of 2011 and thought i would post it for "the record". It is written as a guide for the EU, using the financial crises as an excuse to shift to a new green economy. An EU which as we know is in shambles now, with Spain crossing the event horizon and beginning its death spiral. However, as i and many before me have surmised in the past, the reason for the total disregard of our economy, and many other nations being disregarding theirs, is because they must be destroyed to...

Arizona lawmakers appear close to sending to Gov. Jan Brewer a tea party-backed bill that proponents say would stop a United Nations takeover conspiracy but that critics claim could end state and cities’ pollution-fighting efforts and even dismantle the state unemployment office. A final legislative vote is expected Monday on a bill that would outlaw government support of any of the 27 principles contained in the 1992 United Nations Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, also sometimes referred to as Agenda 21. Senate Bill 1507 was passed by the state Senate last month and received an initial House affirmation Wednesday....

The Tennessee Senate added its voice to the state House in condemning the United Nations’ ‘Agenda 21’ on Tuesday. The program is an environmental initiative meant to encourage sustainable development. A majority of Tennessee lawmakers now describe it as destructive. The United Nations Agenda 21 has never been endorsed by the U.S. as a treaty, but it has become a hot button issue among grass roots conservatives who see the United Nations as the first step to so-called one-world government. Resolution sponsor Mike Bell, a Republican from McMinn County, held up a black loose leaf folder several inches thick. “There...

While doing my morning sustainability research i found myself coming across Siemens website, which has done a little updating since my last visit. Within moments i found myself in a .pdf on "smart" neighborhoods to come in NYC, and one of the major subjects discussed is "community intelligence". This raised a brow obviously. A snip: "Being a part of a community meets a basic human need. Knowing your surroundings, having access to relevant local information, and feeling closely connected to your neighborhood—and to the City—builds trust. As New York City continues to grow, residents are at risk of losing their...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for this summer’s Rio+20 summit to create a sustainable development index to replace GDP as the main measure of a country’s advancement. Addressing a group of mayors and local government officials at the UN in New York, Ban called for “an outcome from Rio+20 that is thus both practical and transformational”. “We need to move beyond gross domestic product as our main measure of progress, and fashion a sustainable development index that puts people first,” said Ban. The Rio+20 event marks the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit that saw three new UN...

There is no reason to suppose that yet another global conference will solve the world’s environmental woes. But for three days in June, the UN is to hold a meeting in Rio de Janeiro where more than 100 leaders are expected to go at least some way towards doing that. So far, the signs are not encouraging for Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development being held 20 years after the 1992 UN Rio earth summit that helped push the environmental movement into the mainstream. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link...

The revolutionary and Luciferian (he dedicated his book “Rules for Radicals” to Lucifer…aka Satan) Saul Alinsky said ““True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.” Alinsky also taught that community organizing (aka ‘teaching radicalism and Satanic concepts’) must begin at the local level and in a forceful manner. Karl Marx, his partner Frederich Engels and Vladimir Lenin wrote and believed the same. Adolph Hitler, along with Marx and the rest, also believed that environmental elements and ‘saving the planet’ were excellent ploys to be brought into...

Just in time for Earth Day, Talk of the Sound has reviewed the Local Agenda 21 plan for New Rochelle, NY created under an ICLEI program first announced in 2009 and analyzed changes to the document made after the New Rochelle City Council voted to adopt the plan in 2011. Earth Day falls each year on April 22nd. It is the two-year anniversary of the release of the original GreeNR plan. Talk of the Sound conducted a similar analysis when GreeNR was released in 2010 and many of the concerns we raised were raised at Council. In some cases, items...

Current policy and political process incapable of dealing with environmental crisis

University of Minnesota faculty, staff and students will all be part of a federally funded plan meant to kick-start the Central Minnesota economy that begins taking shape next week. The first part of the plan begins next week in Baxter, Minnesota, with working groups made up of area residents set to focus on the state's economy and sustainable housing and transportation. The university says the meetings, which begin Tuesday, May 24th, are the first step in a two-year effort to help provide direction in areas such as transportation, housing and land use. The work groups are the result of an...

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Greenville, South Carolina is a great city in a great state. The area across Caesar's Head Mountain to Brevard, North Carolina is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The people in South Carolina are hard-working, down-to-earth folks who appreciate their freedom, and their private property rights. Few of the folks know that back during the 1970s, South Carolina was one of a handful of states that yielded to the Progressive push to require comprehensive land use planning. Senators "Scoop" Jackson and Morris Udall tried unsuccessfully to get Congress to adopt a National Comprehensive Planning Act. The same national...

HANOI -(Dow Jones)- Finance Ministers of some of Asia's key economies endorsed the importance of fiscal soundness to sustainable economic development, and reiterated their commitment to accelerating economic structural reform, according to the draft of a joint statement by officials attending a high-level gathering organized by the Asia Development Bank. In a prepared joint ministerial statement of the finance ministers from the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations, China, Japan and South Korea, which was seen by Dow Jones Newswires, the ministers said they will also promote domestic demand, trade and investment while opposing protectionism. "In dealing with the large...

Washington, April 29, 2011 – World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick is visiting Tunisia and Morocco from May 2 – 6 with a special focus on how to support Tunisia during its political transition and to find out how economic and governance reforms can create jobs and opportunity in both countries. Zoellick will meet civil society representatives in both countries to learn about the new importance of social accountability and how civil society can play a role in helping citizens influence what they can get from economic development and gain better access to opportunities. Zoellick’s visit to Tunisia follows...

The new Gulf Organisation for Research & Development has outlined its vision to establish Qatar as the Gulf’s ‘capital of green buidlings’. Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD) is the new name of the Barwa and Qatari Diar Research Institute, which was established in 2009 and developed Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS). This change in the name and identity came to meet the positive developments that Qatar is witnessing in applying and adopting QSAS locally and abroad, said a statement. Addressing a press conference at the organisation’s new Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) headquarters, GORD founder and chairman...