Twenty years from the first Rio Earth Conference – and 50 years since Rachel Carson’s landmark environmental exposure – is the earth any better for it? Do we have the “Wonderful world” that Louis Armstrong so gloriously expressed? We have to ask ourselves: is there progress to report and are there lessons to be learnt? This column and this issue have words of hope and reports of enterprise and sustainability. Mostly about good deeds and words of wisdom. Along with some of the usual culprits of the not so encouraging acts or misdeeds. – Ken Hickson     Read More

What a Wonderful World!

Twenty years from the first Rio Earth Conference – and 50 years since Rachel Carson’s landmark environmental exposure – is the earth any better for it? Do we have the “Wonderful world” that Louis Armstrong so gloriously expressed? We have to ask ourselves: is there progress to report and are their lessons to be learnt? Genuinely, there has been some significant changes for the better and certainly greater awareness of the value of the environment, but it is more likely a case of two steps forward and one step back – or even worse than that in some minds. But we must take time to celebrate the v environment. Celebrate the achievements of so many who have worked tirelessly for a better place, often fielding criticism and even hate. Let’s mark this year as a stocktaking one. Weigh up the losses and the gains. Has the earth and the environment profited from human’s at work and play? The greatest lesson over the past 50 years is that we cannot leave it to nature. Man and his machines have such a major impact on all things. The environment and the atmosphere can be destroyed by humans or saved by humans. It is over to us. No longer can be attribute disasters to Acts of God. More and more are directly attributable to the dirty deeds of people on earth. So the future is in our hands. The environment begs us to be responsible caretakers. Nothing more and nothing less. This issue have words of hope and enterprise. Good deeds and words of wisdom.