Record one billion tourists in 2012 can be force for good, UN tourism agency says … As the estimated number of tourists travelling this year hits a record one billion today, the United Nations agency focused on world tourism unveiled a tip-laden campaign aimed at letting travelers know how they can best benefit the people and places they visit. The One Billion Tourists: One Billion Opportunities campaign of the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO) shows tourists that respecting local culture, preserving heritage or buying local goods when travelling can make a big difference. – UN World Tourism Organization

Dominant Social Theme: The United Nations has advice for tourists, too. Listen, please. It is very important.

Free-Market Analysis: Did you know there was a UN World Tourism Organization?

It may not seem like such a big deal but it shows us once more how ubiquitous world government is getting and how vast the resources are behind the United Nations.

As with ALL UN agencies, apparently, a priority of the WTO is "sustainable" tourism. This agency, for instance, recommends that tourists use the same towels for several days to save energy and water.

Back in September, the UN issued a statement celebrating something called World Tourism Day. Here's an excerpt:

United Nations officials today highlighted the role that tourism can play in achieving sustainable development objectives, as they marked World Tourism Day.

"One of the world's largest economic sectors, tourism is especially well-placed to promote environmental sustainability, green growth and our struggle against climate change through its relationship with energy," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message to mark the Day.

Celebrated annually on 27 September, World Tourism Day serves to raise awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and the contributions it can make in the economic, political and social sectors.

This year's theme, "Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development" seeks to advance the goals of the 2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

"Hundreds of millions of people around the world depend for income on this energy-intensive sector. Sustainable energy will allow tourism to continue to expand while mitigating its impact on the environment," Mr. Ban said.

"Everyone has a role in sustainable tourism. I commend the tourism community for its growing commitment to sustainable energy. I also thank the tourists who play their part by off-setting their own carbon emissions, choosing ecologically friendly destinations and providers, or simply by postponing having their towels laundered. Every action counts," he added.

We can see from the above how relentless UN officials are when it comes to stressing "sustainability." This is a nonsense word, of course. The planet IS sustainable. It is a hunk of rock. It's not going anywhere nor are the processes that make it what it is.

There is little if anything humans can do to "sustain" the planet's current facilities. Air, water, weather, geological processes … all were put in place long before humans trod the Earth.

Sustainability is a phrase popularized by a power elite that wants to run the world and needs to control large populations in order to do so. Only by controlling human consumption of energy and other "resources" can the top elites hope to generate the kind of all-encompassing world government they seek.

This is the reason the elites focus so heavily on sustainability and use every tool at their disposal to emphasize it. World Tourism Day is just another opportunity to deliver the message.

The Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Taleb Rifai, made the point that "sustainable energy in the tourism sector can also help reduce energy poverty by implementing the objectives of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative… "

According to Rifai, conservation creates jobs and opportunities for "millions." But this is just another unprovable bromide. It is hard to see how foregoing something creates employment.

What Rifai and others like him want to argue is that building, say … windmills creates jobs. But if windmills are not as efficient as other forms of energy, the result is probably a net LOSS of jobs and lowered standards of living. Rifai's argument is dishonest but this is not surprising.

The UN is a vast talking shop but one that basically features promotional elements. It is basically a billion dollar megaphone for elite memes, designed especially to keep the political classes "on message" while global consolidation takes place.

Nothing is to be overlooked when it comes to this process. Today, we learn, the UN has decided to celebrate the "symbolic" arrival of the world's billionth tourist.

"Today, we welcome the symbolic arrival of the one-billionth tourist," said WTO's Rifai, according to a news release from the agency. "Your actions count. That is our message to the one billion tourists."

"Through the right actions and choices, each tourist represents an opportunity for a fairer, more sustainable future," Mr. Rifai said.

The campaign is in line with Madrid-based WTO's mandate to promote the development of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

Why is the United Nations involved in tourism at all? What's the point?

The UN is involved in so many things that we often forget to ask basic questions about its role and function. But these questions should be asked. Via an increasing array of initiatives, the UN is engaged in an authoritarian reshaping of the world that reduces human options, retards human innovations and steadily reinforces what might be called neo-Medievalism.

This is the idea of a steady-state human society, one that is endlessly subservient to a larger, monied class of elites that shall run the world on behalf of all.

Not only is this is a dismal view of the human future, there are disturbingly genocidal overtones having to do with the general perspective of human beings as an invasive and troublesome infestation that the world needs to shed in order to become "sustainable."

The trouble comes as the UN crosses over from a talking shop to a forceful manifestation of world government. Is that taking place now?