ONE WORLD WEEK

The theme of One World Week 1996 is 'Living on the Edge', and these articles look at some of the problems of people who, in different ways, both here and in other parts of the world, live on the edge of society, of disaster, of life itself.

Why should we care? "WE'LL soon be dead." "It'll last out our lifetime." "Anyway, you can always find another expert to tell you all's well." "We've a right to burn all the oil, dump rubbish, kill the trees, enjoy ourselves, let most of the world starve..."

But lots of us do worry, do care. It may be some special issue, it may be lots - whales, hedgehogs, wetlands, clean air, exploited workers...

We may share all sorts of reasons with others in a particular campaign; we may have different reasons of our own for supporting that same cause.

Down the centuries people of all faiths and no faith in particular have cared about leaving a good land for their children and their children's children. And people struggle to preserve their own little patch just because it is theirs, and it's part of them, they're part of it. And very likely they find beauty in it. That's some of the reasons why we care. Some religious faiths have seen all life as sacred. Perhaps you may kill a tree, a fish, a bird, but only for some basic need. Not for greed, not for some perverse 'fun'.

The Jewish tradition insists. 'The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it'. Christians and Muslims have inherited that insight, though western Christians (I am one) have often failed to live up to it. Now some are realising the earth, the sea, the plants, the animals are not ours to plunder and spoil and waste. A Muslin writer points to a tradition ascribed to the Prophet forbidding the waste of water, or anything else, even where there is plenty. And what we can enjoy without spoiling is there to be shared.

Buddhist tradition interprets life rather differently, but the upshot will often be similar. If you learn to forget self, no long try to grab, dominate, impose, then you lose the barriers between yourself and others. Buddhism's Hindu parent can encourage a similar appreciation of the all of which each is a part.

Why care? For all sorts of sets of reasons, these and many more besides. F. Gerald Downing A journey to the brink of disaster SINCE the last war, much money has been spent on Bolton's roads. Their layout encourages people to make journeys by car and carry freight by car and lorry. Our patterns of behaviour have adapted to suit. People choose workplace, residence, leisure and shopping knowing they are able to travel by car.

A major effect of this is that being in the street is now far more unpleasant. Children have to be taught the dangers of traffic and are often driven everywhere in the interests of safety. The taste of pollution is in the air, noise and vibration from traffic are greater and last longer and it is much more difficult to cross roads on foot.

The majority of Bolton homes have access to one or more cars. The proportion is growing, and, as people have access to more cars and they make more use of them, the impact becomes more intense.

Are there alternatives? Should we make streets into areas for living as well as for travelling through in cars? How do we maximise benefit from our freedom to travel without creating undue stress on our street environment? How do we encourage people to benefit themselves and others by cycling and walking more? By working with Bolton Council on the Agenda 21 initiative for the future of our environment, Christian Ecology Link is actively promoting transport developments to generate a healthier economy and environment in Bolton. John Parkin,

Christian Ecology Link Making waves DAVE Fleming, now Secretary of the Bolton Greenpeace Group, wanted to do something more useful with his time, So, when he came back to Bolton from London five years ago, he helped get the local Greenpeace Group going again. Dave answers the questions.

Why Greenpeace? The whaling issue drew me fist of all. Then other important issues, national and international.

What do local groups do? Originally fund-raising, which is still essential.

We take collecting boxes to supermarkets, the railway station, pubs.

And there's the annual sponsored Whale Walk. It used to be at Moses Gate, now it takes place at Jumbles.

Nothing but fund-raising? No, the shape of activities has changed over recent years. Now there's more campaigning.

Such as? The present campaign on solar energy. Trying to get governments and ordinary people interested.

A harder job than the high-profile Brent Spar affair over the destruction of an oil-drilling platform.

Are we really 'living on the edge of environmental disaster'? That's nice and cheerful.

The Bolton Greenpeace Group, of which I'm secretary these days, is always looking for new people to join us so that we can campaign more effectively against environmental problems. There have been disasters, both in this country and elsewhere in the world, but we do what we can to prevent them. Small slices of countryside By Angela Downing, Bolton Urban Wildlife Officer AT Captain's Clough in Smithills, new footpaths have been provided along the wooded valley to provide a pleasant walk away from the roads.

More recently, with the help of a youth group from High Street Community Centre, an area of colourful summer flowers has been created in Daubhill, on derelict land where a row of terraced houses once stood.

Why? Why bother?

Nine out of 10 people in Britain live in towns and cities and the majority of us do not have easy access to the countryside which lies beyond.

Many of us have never owned even a garden in which to enjoy the natural beauty of trees and flowers.

It is surprising, then, that we don't feel environmental issues to be part of our lives?

Yet there is plenty of evidence to show the benefits of direct contact with natural areas in towns, such as parks, where we can distance ourselves from the pressures of urban living.

Trees and shrubs, for example, help provide cleaner air, as they filter out come of the city grime, and we need to provide children - always instinctively curious - with the opportunity to see first-hand how nature works.

The Bolton Wildlife Project is part of an independent charity, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, and is concerned with projects which do involve local people.

The Wildlife Project aims to protect and improve wildlife areas which already exist and also to continue to create new ones.

We try to ensure that new developments such as new houses and roads do as little damage as possible to our network of wildlife sites such as woods and wetlands, leaving them free for people to enjoy.

We work with community groups to improve existing open spaces and woods and encourage more people to use them, and we're the ones behind the flowers in the desert of Daubhill and the improvements at Captain's Clough.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.