Beware the Green Menace

In Dan Casey’s March 13, 2013 Roanoke Times article,“Bluegrass, Agenda 21 link a real stretch for Tea Party” (http://roanoke.com/news/1772782-12/dan-casey-bluegrass-agenda-21-link-a-real.html) he appears to have dug only so deep. He stated, “On the surface, fiddlers and banjo players don’t look like the one-world government gang. But certain extremists view them as witting and unwitting tools in the latest devious land grab: efforts to have the Crooked Road heritage music trail designated as a National Heritage Area.” Then, he quoted the Vice President of the Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, Woody Crenshaw: “It’s not a real argument, it’s a political argument,” Crenshaw said. “There’s been a groundswell of misinformation about property rights. The Crooked Road is a music advocacy organization, and we have become very uncomfortable being involved in politics.” Perhaps the Crooked Road road is just a music advocacy organization that is uncomfortable being involved in politics. I couldn’t tell you. However, I can tell you Crenshaw’s involvement in a local organization that has association with a radical international leftist climate change-related organization that partnered with ICLEI (and likely still does) has me wondering about his influence on the Crooked Road issue.

Crenshaw is the Vice President of the Crooked Road,Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail and owner of the Floyd Country Store. What Dan Casey didn’t mention is Crenshaw is also the President of SustainFloyd. SustainFloyd has its regular meetings at the Floyd Country Store. SustainFloyd promotes and partners with the international leftist organization called 350.org:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/350org/4034209888/

Bill McKibben is Founder of 350.org.  Fragments From Floyd stated,“Bill McKibben, still jet-lagged from his recent arrival from Australia and New Zealand, spoke twice in the area on Tuesday, May 23–first at the Country Store to a standing-room-only crowd and later in the afternoon, to the Community Foundation in Blacksburg.”

http://www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/floydco/bill-mckibben-the-future-350-and-floyd/

Bill McKibben was hosted by the Community Foundation of the New River Valley. The CFNRV is a partner with the New River Valley Livability Initiative. The New River Valley Livability Initiative is a story by itself.

In October 2009 SustainFloyd held a SplitRail Eco-Fair. SustainFloyd’s Media Advisory prior to the event stated, “The news media are invited to join citizens of the small Blue Ridge town of Floyd, Virginia on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 10 a.m. as they stage an action calling for greenhouse gases to be reduced worldwide.  Floyd County residents will
hold up the giant numerals, “350,” before the iconic backdrop of Buffalo Mountain.  The message?  The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark should agree this year to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) worldwide to 350 parts per million (ppm).  SustainFloyd, the group sponsoring the action, will send a photo (through www.350.org) of the action to the U.N.”

According to ICLEI’s website, 350.org was a partner with ICLEI less than a year ago. Since that time ICLEI apparently scrubbed their partners list on that site. As it is well known, ICLEI is promoting and searching for ways to get localities to voluntarily implement UN Agenda 21.

350.org is associated with the following to name a few:

Sierra Club, Green For All, Earth Day Network, Carbonfund.org, US Climate Action Network, Green Corps, Article XI, New River Land Trust

Green For All was founded by Van Jones who was at one time a self-avowed communist. Green For All is associated with the Center For American Progress, the Apollo Alliance and Moveon.org. Before ICLEI apparently scrubbed their partners listing in the past year, Green For All was on that list.

It is my understanding that at Roanoke Chapter Sierra Club meeting/s in the 2007 time period at least one employee of Roanoke County Government was introduced to ICLEI. Shortly after, this employee introduced ICLEI to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors. In 2007, the board voted to become members of ICLEI in short order, not having much of an understanding of the downside to being a member. And, yes, the Sierra Club, with its Cool Cities Coalition, was on that ICLEI partners listing prior to the list being scrubbed.

Earth Day Network is associated with the Carbon War Room, Earthshare and the Sierra Club. Earthshare is associated with the Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy being an active participant at the UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development held last year. 20 years earlier, at the original Earth Summit, UN Agenda 21 was born.

On the Green Corps Advisory Board is the Sierra Club’s National Field Director, Bob Bingaman. The Green Corps is associated with Energy Action Coalition, which participated in “One Nation Working Together” rally held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in October 2010. Two of the sponsors of the rally were the Communist Party USA and the International Socialist Organization.

I could go on and on. The point is many of these organizations have leftist roots or/and are associated with ICLEI/UN Agenda 21. So, when Dan Casey states, “The bottom line is, cooky and extreme right-wing politics are being used to derail the promotion of bluegrass music. That’s how weird it’s gotten out there — and it’s only getting weirder.”, he needs to scratch the surface a bit more and get the backstory.

Bill Gregory

virginiagreenmenace.com contributor