Damage (From Penarth Times)

Damage

THE first of the main political parties has issued its election manifesto and others will soon follow.

So far I have looked in vain for a commitment to limit the damage to our environment, let alone to care for it in a protective way.

Since becoming a grandparent, my personal commitment to this proactive stance has radically increased.

The majority of experts in this field, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have no doubt about the increasingly serious consequences for human life unless the current use of fossil fuels is reduced.

Another aspect of environmental destruction is the depletion of fish stocks.

The wisdom of the North American Indian saying that 'when the last fish has died we will realise that we cannot eat money' becomes daily more evident.

Does the electorate really rate short-term domestic issues as the most important in this time of crisis for the earth? Or is this focus an indication that politicians of all major parties feel helpless when more than half of the world's largest economies are corporations, not countries?

Whatever the reason, this short-term care for ourselves needs to be placed within the long-term care of the younger generation and the ones who follow them.

Inasmuch as we fail to do that, we seriously short-change them.

Phil Kingston

St Luke's Avenue

Penarth