The title to this also includes categories such as 'International' and 'Environment'. I became an instant fan of Dr. James Lovelock when he was interviewed on SBS some time back. All his gloom and doom predictions are now backed up by 1360 scientists from 95 countries. (The Age 31/3) We are heading for destruction of life as we know it within a very finite time and the major causers and greatest disregarders of this are the governments of Howard and Dubya! These two countries, Australia and US of A remain determined not to sign up with the rest of the world to the Kyoto protocol which itself at best provides lip service to a burgeoning problem and a schedule which is hopelessly too far down the track.

The Amazon forests were known as 'the lungs of the Earth'. There are now probably not enough Amazon forests left to anywhere nearly cope with civilizations CO2 output. Add to this the fact that West Papuas forests used to be almost as much in area as those of the Amazon but are currently being raped by what has been termed 'the timber Mafia', ie. the Indonesian TNI. Add then the multiple other illegal logging activities plus the ones such as in Tasmania and Victoria and NSW which are blessed by our very own Federal and State governments and it becomes clear that self respecting Democracy has a problem that is not going to go away.