The short supplement to this issue of Nonviolent News, written by Liz Sheppard, summarises the situation on global warming and what we can do about it.

The time for global warming to be the concern of green activists only is over! Do we imagine that the rich 'West' - which has largely created the problem - will willingly accept tens of millions of environmental refugees from, say, Bangladesh when their countryside slides under water or is so ravaged by storms and floods that it becomes uninhabitable. Do we, hell!

Even if you're a warming-sceptic feeling it's all part of a natural cycle (so fast and furious a change seems strange), the possible price of inaction is too high. If your doctor told you, "I'm 95% certain that you need to adopt this lifestyle to survive", you would almost certainly do it because the possible price of inaction is too high. So it is with global warming.

Inaction on this issue is likely to store up incalculable problems, conflict, violence and agony as families and individuals are torn from their home-lands and forced to become refugees - mainly in already impoverished parts of the globe.

The situation of the rich 'West' ('us') exporting the problem they ('we') have created largely onto the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable is a true obscenity. As individuals we can do something on the issue but cannot solve it without the governments of the world being prepared to move. We can afford to deal with the issue, we cannot afford not to. In the long run, sustainability is in everyone's interests.

For more information on climate change issues you need look no further than the current issue of the, excellent as always, 'Earthwatch' magazine (No. 51 features 8 x A3 pages on the topic including a table which shows Ireland - in 1995 - high up the greenhouse gases emission list - it may have climbed higher since!).Earthwatch mag address is Dromore, Bantry, Co Cork, Tel: 028 - 31853, Email: ewmag@eircom.net

Earthwatch head office is 7 Upper Camden Street, Dublin 2, Tel: 01 - 497 3773, Email: foeeire@iol.ie

The easiest contact for renewable energy information is the Irish Energy Centre in Bandon which has a Renewable Energy Information Office which works to promote the use of renewable energy resources and provide independent advice on financial, social, environmental and technical issues relating to it. Contact; Irish Energy Centre, Renewable Energy Information Office, Shinagh House, Bandon, Co Cork. 
Tel: 023 - 42193, Fax: 41302, Email: renewable@reio.ie