Environment: air, water and land in or on which people, animals and plants live. Crime: An action that is against the law, or more generally, an example of bad or unacceptable behaviour. Crimes against the environment affect individuals. More than that, they often affect everyone, and everything, on the planet. They debilitate and destroy, in effect, the support systems on which all life depends - at times, permanently. There are too many crimes being committed against the planet where the criminals are getting away. If only nature was the jury. They are, however, perceived differently from crimes that affect our private property or our persons. Crimes against "me" are often taken more seriously than crimes against "us" - an unfortunate trend, given that "me" and "us," and all life, are fundamentally connected and inter-dependent. There are the intentional and deliberate crimes, which are officially against the law, such as the murder and import of endangered species for personal wealth. There are also countless examples where negative impacts on the environment have been caused due to a lack of being preventive or precautionary. This might include the cyanide spill into Hungary's Tisza River last January. But what about continued global warming which is causing droughts and floods worldwide? In a recent report, 60 percent of the habitat of Canada and Scandinavia could be lost in the next century if current trends continue. The world does have an international climate change convention to deal with the problem. But many countries refuse to ratify it because of a fear of short-term losses in national "wealth." Are these countries committing criminal acts? Today - officially not. But if the warming and its negative effects continue, while we had the power and the convention to stop it, surely a jury a century from now will consider our failure to act to have been a crime. Somebody has to take the blame and be responsible. Future generations shouldn't be the only ones that pay. Then there are unintentional crimes based on ignorance. These can be solved by better distributing information and raising public awareness. In this regard, the Aarhus Convention is a good thing. It defines criminals as individuals or groups in positions of authority who fail to suitably inform or communicate their environmental decisions or intentions, or who fail to suitably provide others with the means to participate in the fight to save the environment. The convention is necessary because saving the environment requires the understanding, commitment and action of everyone. For the environment to be saved, "me" and "us" must be united. The Bulletin has done its best to raise awareness of the most important environmental issues for Central and Eastern Europe. May its next editor continue. As for this editor, farewell. - Paul Csagoly

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