A key part of the Great Leap Backward is that land and water use must be dictated, first, by greening the environment, and only secondly, for agriculture use, which will produce far less food. This is explicit in the EU “Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies” May 20, 2020 document; and in the 2020 Agriculture Law of Britain. For the U.S., this green dictate appears in the “30 x 30” scheme, which says that by 2030, human use of any kind—agriculture, forestry, transportation, energy, minerals—must be reduced on 30% of U.S. land and water, including oceans.
Biden was programmed to say this during his 2020 campaign, and it was formally announced Jan. 27, in his Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” (86 Fed. Reg. page 7,619). [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/]
A huge pushback is underway. On Feb. 22, seventeen state governors signed a letter to Biden, opposing the federal government overreach on this. Many also issued their own press releases. The states include most of the farm belt, e.g. the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho.
There are local meetings of all kinds in opposition. For example, March 2 in Wyoming, a resolution opposing the 30x30 plan, and calling for local consultation, was introduced in the Uinta County Commissioners meeting, by the county’s Citizens Coalition for Sound Resource Use. The Commissioners will take it up March 16.
Last night in the small town of Valentine, Nebraska, a public briefing was held by Margaret Byfield, who has been mobilizing people in meetings across the Plains States. Her organization is the American Stewards of Liberty, based in Texas.See https://americanstewards.us/
The usual citation is made that 12% of U.S. land area is already currently in federal control. Most of it is in the Western states, and varies widely state by state. However a 2020 estimate by the Federation of American Scientists is much higher.
