“For many years we have been using the resources of the Earth in unsustainable ways. Now we are beginning to see the results: the Earth is warming, the seas are rising, and fresh water, especially in the outer islands is threatened and with it the ability to raise food. Here on mainland families are feeling the impact of the increased cost of electricity, gas and imported food.
“These problems are not going to go away. No government subsidy will help for long, or solve the problem. The sooner we accept this the sooner we will be able to apply our limited financial resources and ingenuity and hard work to addressing today’s economic and environmental challenges. Economic and environmental challenges are linked.
‘We on Yap will not be able to stop the oceans from rising or to solve the current economic difficulty alone. We must though, do our part. We owe this to the countries that help us and owe this to our children and their children. We owe this to ourselves, so that we can one day say, ‘I was part of the solution, rather than worsening the problem.’
