Steve Sweetnich, BSCISEngineer

Brecksville

Does anyone hate trees and clean water?

Please raise your hand

Agenda 21Quick Summary

Is an International Treaty

• Based On UN Agenda 21 Resolution• Model for Restructuring Society• High density population centers• Sustainability/Environment/Resources

Some people question the science, assumptions and motives….

Agenda 21Issues

Our Concerns

• Protection of Private Property Rights• Use of Tax Policy “incentives” to enforce plan• Questionable “Science”• Need “Balanced” approach• United Nations Role and Influence vs US Constitution

Agenda 21 Proposition

Agenda 21 Basics

• Increase population density• Focused around metropolitan centers• Regional vs local governments • Yield decreased cost of sustainability/energy• Smaller infrastructure investments• Preservation of green space/environment

So what’s not to like?

Agenda 21 Challenged

1. Is the idea of many people in small footprint Ideal?

Beehive model for living?

Agenda 21 Challenged

When many people are crammed into a smaller space:

• Need larger more complex systems• A system failure is more catastrophic

When you “spread the load”:

• Systems are less complex and less expensive• Redundancy provides better reliability

Hurricane Sandy and Fukashima Power

Agenda 21 Challenged

• Engineering teaches us “spread the load” over a wider base to improve durability and strength

• Computer Science teaches us “many systems/parallel processing” improves reliability

Agenda 21 Challenged

From Wikipaedia

Redundancy is the duplication of critical components or functions of a system with the intention of increasing reliability of the system, usually in the case of a backup or fail-safe qualities.

Don’t put all your eggs into one basket

Agenda 21 Challenged

Advantages of a Distributed Model:

• Ability to scale and grow• Simpler process of duplication• Fault tolerance• Specialization• Adaptation to specific environments• Simplicity• Cost

Agenda 21 Challenged

Electricity generation as an example  • Traditional plants are large centralized power generators • Several drawbacks

–   efficiency (typically 70% at best)–   cost–   environmental impacts–   distribution systems / efficiencies  / cost–   inability to match needs to specific services–   flexibility of fuel types and use

Agenda 21 Challenged

2. What about Quality of Life?”

• Security• Recreation• Privacy• Sanitation, Communicability and Health• Crowding and congestion

What value is placed on these concerns?

Agenda 21 Challenged

Consider that pushing all the multi tenant into central cities and inner ring…

• Could it be considered racist if more minorities forced into less desirable housing, “high density” housing?

• Runs counter to “American Dream” of a yard with a garden, a dog and a safe place to raise your kids

• Runs counter to Human Nature…

What’s wrong with nice single family developments in the city and inner ring

suburbs?

Agenda 21 Challenged

The determinants of why people will choose where to live:

• Safety• Jobs• Quality of Life• What’s good for your children

Not where a government central planner suggests you live.

Agenda 21 Challenged

3. Is the Business As Usual Model Reliable?

The Business As Usual (BAU) model• Suggests that our society is on a course for doom and

destruction in the foreseeable future, if we do not change our ways…

BAU ignores the impact of advancing technology• Technology always changes the cost/benefit equation• BAU model assumptions become less relevant• Technology will change assumptions of cost of

development/infrastructure/support system

BAU ignores behavior – we observe, adapt, adjust and modify

Disruptive Innovation

• A disruptive innovation– creates a new market and value network– disrupts existing market and value network– displaces an earlier technology. – describes innovations that improve a product or

service in ways that the market does not expect– Typically improves price/performance.

A hot topic in business and technology literature

Disruptive Innovation

Effectiveness

Time

1st Generation

2nd Generation

3rd Generation

Innovation typically results in decreased cost

Agenda 21 Challenged

4. Is Regionalism the answer?

• Regionalism places “distance” between residents and their government

• When this happens people are– less involved– less concerned– less motivated to make their community successful.

• Is this a disincentive to regional growth?

Smaller communities are more responsible to their constituents, financially and in terms of service

Agenda 21 Challenged

5. What are the real problems with N.E Ohio?

• Agenda 21 fails to determine “Root Cause” Issues• Deals only with “Treating Symptoms”• What affects our ability to build, maintain and improve

our infrastructure and Q.O.L?• What events in our history have affected our ability to

maintain our infrastructure?

This approach will inevitably fail to fix anything

Self Fulfilling Prophesy?

• Agenda 21 purports to secure a safe and satisfying life style for our future…

• I suggest to you that the current proposed model for Agenda 21 may instead become the catalyst for our shared worst fears of the future…

• Central Community Planning has a dismal track record• In 2012 69% of American High School graduates failed

to meet college readiness benchmarks in science.• American children scored last out of eight countries

measured.

Should we come together to fix this instead?

Examples of centrally planned High Density dwelling…

“Let us not be deceived by phrases about “Man taking charge of his own destiny”. All that can really happen is that some men will take charge of the destiny of the others. They will be simply men; none perfect; … The more completely we are planned the more powerful they will be. Have we discovered some new reason why, this time, power should not corrupt as it has done before?”

-C.S. Lewis