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We can, and have to, each do our bit....

There is no doubt that politicians have either been hostile to or slow to grasp that climate change must be addressed. George Bush and John Howard have actively poo-pood Kyoto. Rupert Murdoch, until recently, questioned global warming and the like. People like Andrew Bolt [described as the "village idiot" by Mike Carleton] still resist the notion that there is something known as climate change.

The world is turning though. Despite the sceptics, the evidence is almost overwhelming that we are faced with innumerable challenges, on all levels, unless we, now, deal with climate change. To ignore what is happening around us, and faces future generations, would be totally irresponsible.

It is is not only governments who must take action. Everyone has a role to play:

"Research out of the Max Planck Institute in Germany suggests how we might help ourselves evolve. We behave as better environmental citizens when educated about the science of global warming, and when our individual actions are visible to those around us -- a phenomenon known as "social facilitation." Perhaps if we're vigorously informed of how global warming endangers our neighborhoods, we'll individually forego the McMansions and the Hummers and make other sustainable choices. Anything less compromises our children's future."

This piece on AlterNet puts the whole subject into context - and what the "man in the street" thinks about it.

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