IF THIS country is serious about reducing the damage it causes to our world, the government's plans for a generation of eco-towns must proceed.
We need to build homes, schools and workplaces that are environmentally friendly and encourage people to travel less or to use public transport.
Their location will, of course, be contentious because it is likely that most will be built in rural or semi-rural locations.
Such a site is at Long Marston in leafy Warwickshire where 300 local people marched in protest against the blueprint.
Their concerns deserve to be heard.
Planners need to consider whether the area has the facilities to cope with a large rise in population and whether it has the public transport links that would be needed.
But if these worries prove groundless, the eco-town should go ahead.
Protesters cannot be allowed to protect their own backyards at the expense of the planet.