, lead and sulphur, which cause acid rain and damage human health. Much money is spent by health services worldwide because of this. The acid rain damages crops and forests, which damages the economy. International borders do not limit the problems of acid rain, pollution and global warming. These problems, if not addressed, can cause tension between countries. The coniferous forests of Canada, for example, have suffered from acid rain caused by industry in the United States (Goldemberg, 1996: 113).
             If environmental problems were not taken into account, then fossil fuels could provide a good source of energy. They are plentiful in supply, especially coal, and are relatively easy to transport by land or water. New supplies are constantly being found and new technology is making their use more efficient. Gas turbine combined-cycle power plants are expected to be 47% efficient by 2010 and produce half as much carbon as conventional coal fired plants (Goldemberg, 1996: 89).
             Many national economies are based on the export of fossil fuels. The sudden removal of this source of energy would unstabilise their balance of payments and would lead to conflict. Evidence of this can be seen in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's attempts to impede climate change negotiations (Mitchell, 1996: 169).
             During the 1970s there was an oil shortage in much of the world. This made governments look to other sources of energy to avoid dependence on imports. The source that seemed to hold most hope was nuclear power. It appeared to promise cheap and unlimited power because one kilogram of uranium could produce as much energy as two thousand tonnes of oil (Mitchell, 1996: 125).
             The optimistic predictions of the seventies have not yet been realised. Only around 6% of the world's energy is from nuclear power (National Geographic, March 2001). One thing that has limited its use has been public mistrust of the technology. The first serious incident was the...