Global Governance vs. Democratic Sovereignty

 From The Brownstone Institute:

A recent pronouncement from the World Court adds another link to the chain that connects climate change to pandemic management policies. International organisations are taking over an increasing range of functions from the governments of states, posing a threat both to national sovereignty and to democracy with national bureaucrats working in tandem with international technocrats – the lanyard class – to overrule citizens’ choices. With unelected and unaccountable judges displacing elected governments as the real rulers, judicial overreach is emerging as a threat to the democratic nation-state.

Over the past two decades, climate activists have essentially adopted a smug ‘We’ve won’ tone on a three-part ‘scientific consensus’ on adverse impacts of rising CO2, human activity being primarily responsible for the rise in emissions, and the imminence of climate catastrophe without urgent drastic action. (Read more.)

 

Solar farms. From Direct Line News:

For generations, Maryland’s farmers have done the hard work that keeps our communities alive—feeding families, fueling the poultry industry, and protecting the rural way of life that defines our state. But now, Christine Condon reports in Maryland Matters that slick out‑of‑state solar companies are flooding rural mailboxes with glossy fliers and too‑good‑to‑be‑true promises: $4,500, $5,000, even $7,000 per acre to cover our fields with steel and glass. “Harvest Profits,” the fliers say, as if our land is just another commodity for bureaucrats and energy speculators.

Farmers like Howard Dean of Queen Anne’s County have had enough.
“I get three or four solar invitations a day,” Dean said. “I want the farmland to stay farmland. I want future generations to enjoy this beautiful county and this Eastern Shore.”

The problem isn’t just the high‑pressure sales pitches—it’s Annapolis. This year, the Democrat‑controlled General Assembly pushed through a law that strips counties of much of their local authority to regulate solar projects. In other words, the same politicians who claim to care about the environment are willing to sacrifice farmland to meet their one‑size‑fits‑all green energy mandates.

Farmers see the danger clearly:

• Solar fields don’t feed Maryland families or our poultry industry.
  Thousands of acres of corn, wheat, and soybeans risk being replaced by rows of panels feeding the grid instead of the chicken houses that sustain our economy.

• The new law sets a “5% cap” on solar in agricultural preservation areas—but that cap is dangerously high.
  In small counties, 5% of priority farmland is no small number. Once the land is gone, it’s gone for good.

• So‑called “temporary” solar farms threaten the soil.
  Farmers have watched topsoil scraped away for panel installation, destroying the natural balance that God and generations of stewardship created. Industry lobbyists promise the land can “come back to farming,” but farmers know better—once the soil is disturbed, it may never truly recover.

• Government is picking winners and losers.
  Urban Democrats want rural Maryland to shoulder the entire burden for their green dreams while ignoring common‑sense alternatives like rooftop solar, parking lot canopies, or industrial brownfields.

(Read more.)

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