Sustainable Southampton Town: The Begining

This is the first of a series of articles concerning a large environmental initiative which the Town Board very much wants to enact. It is called the Southampton 400+ Sustainability Element. Southampton 400+ is in recognition to the towns 400th anniversary and as a planning document will guide town and its villages into the future. In 1999 the town adopted a master plan for Southampton. Over the years it has been tweaked and updated, The Hampton Bays Corridor Study is an example of that and is presently under consideration. If you are a resident of Hampton Bays it behooves you to communicate to the board your understanding of what the study is. The master plan has remained the central planning document for the town and has done a reasonable job in maintaining the unique characteristics of Southampton, but a change was in the wind. With the adoption of the Presidents Council on Sustainability and by executive order "sustainability " was to become a cornerstone for all Federal initiatives nationally, statewide and of course locally. In Southampton there was a change in board members and party affiliations which began the transformation to a more Sustainable Southampton through the acceptance of federal and state monies to achieve that goal.. An environmental coordinator was hired with federal grant money, the Sustainability Committee, or if you like Green Committee was begun. Than the town became a signatory to ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), the United Nations Agenda 21 boots on the ground organization with a mandate to began implementation of UN processes. In a quote on the ICLEI web site" ICLEI acts as a bridge between local governments and UN processes". The Sustainability Committee reports that they use ICLEI software as it is the only available software that measures town agencies compliance with measurable carbon footprint reduction goals and others goals As a footnote; the town board vigorously rejected any association with ICLEI until is was shown they paid for membership and it is part of the Sustainability Committees web site. I hope I haven't lost you but this is a story that shows how things begin, and how language can be manipulated to encourage a feel good acceptance for a better tomorrow. What do I mean by manipulation? July 25th 1997 the US Senate passed a resolution 95-0 to reject a UN agreement on gas house emissions soooooo in the words of President Clintons Council on Sustainable Development " participating in a UN advocated planning process would likely bring out many groups and individuals...who fear our individual freedom would be stripped away and would actively work to defeat any elected official who joined the conspiracy by undertaking Agenda. SO WE CALL OUR PROCESS SOMETHING ELSE, SUCH AS COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING, GROWTH MANAGEMENT OR SMART GROWTH." This is a glimpse into the origins of Southampton 400+, why is this important? because we will show that this document is as much a political statement as is an environmental statement. Please approach this with an open mind. There is no ax to grind there is only information to better help in the understanding of the true implications of Southampton 400+. Personally we want to take ownership of our environment, we are committed to a environmentally robust Southampton. We believe in education over regulation. We know that what we cannot do alone we can do together. Stay tuned.