DEBATING SOCIETY: On Saturday, November 26, the society debated the motion: "This house believes that environmental protection is the privilege of those with full bellies." Proposing the motion, Professor Margaret Oliver said that while animals do not change the environment radically, since Palaeolithic times human beings have modified the environment and indeed brought about major destruction. The hungry could not worry about the general good of the world and we must help them develop economies with sustainable agriculture.

Seconding the motion, Dr Judith Hilton, Professor Oliver's daughter, said that poor countries were more dependent on the environment than the rich. The poor often lost out with developments imposed by the well-off, so the wealthy must provide protection for them.

Mr Bill Bond-Williams, opposing the motion, said we must ask ourselves how long we wish the human race to continue and, for example, be prepared to deal with nuclear waste.

Seconding the opposition to the motion, Mrs Myra Whitehouse said that those with full bellies were not using their privilege to preserve the environment. The West was polluting it, and must become more aware. People with empty bellies did not have much clout. It was the duty of us all to protect the environment.

With 19 for and 12 against and 12 abstentions, the president declared the motion defeated.