FAR from being nave, opponents of big new road schemes like the Lancaster Northern Bypass are far-sighted, level-headed people who look beyond the illusory so-called benefits of all such scheme, which are only temporary.

Just when are we all going to bite the bullet' and face up to the facts of global warming and climate change which are already happening here and now.

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has to be very considerably reduced because it creates the greenhouse effect that is changing the conditions which we require and depend on for our very existence, The Kyoto Agreement is a first small step in trying to redress the damage we are doing to our planet and the atmosphere around it. But more roads and more traffic means more carbon dioxide in the air and more damage to the life support systems of our world.

Even in the USA, heavily influenced as it is by the oil barons, there are voices now speaking out about the damage our way of life is causing.

Just last week, the American Association for the Advancement of Science brought out a comprehensive report on the dramatic heating up of the world's oceans due to carbon dioxide which they absorb.

Don't we care? Do we truly have a death wish? Are we really so short-sighted and selfish?

Because so long as we insist on having our immediate needs satisfied by being happy to jump into the car for a quick ride to the local shop or to go by car when we could occasionally opt for public transport we are saying that we don't give a fig for the future our future.

Avril Moncaster, Bolton-le-Sands.