Don't cheat on our children, says Craig McGarvie from the Environment.

Agency in YorkOur climate is changing more rapidly than ever before, and the results are plain to see all over the country.

In York alone river levels in 2001 were the highest in 400 years. The weather is predicted to change causing worse flooding, rising sea levels and more intense drought, which would have a significant impact on water resources, agriculture, wildlife and human health.

The Environment Agency is in the front line in tackling climate change and regards it as the major environmental challenge of this century.

We are working with the City of York Council and environmental organisations to make everyone aware of the ways in which individuals and families can help, from recycling their waste, cutting energy use, to walking more and using the car less.

We regulate industrial processes that give rise to about half the current greenhouse gases released in England and Wales and work constantly with the Government to improve energy efficiency in industry. We are also the body responsible for flood defences.

Flooding, for the people who live in and around York, is probably the most poignant reminder the effects climate change can have on our lives.

In November 2000, as a result of prolonged and heavy rainfall - more than 176mm in 20 days - the River Ouse reached levels of more than ten metres above normal and over-topped its banks.

The York flood defences protected more than 6,000 properties. However, despite the best efforts of the Agency and the other emergency services, several hundred homes and businesses were flooded.

Part of the Agency's work in helping to adapt to climate change is evaluating the protection provided by existing flood defences.

Where necessary we try to ensure, by working with the local authorities, an increase in the investment of these defences to maintain an adequate level of protection for communities at risk We are also doing all we can to change the way in which we manage our land and water by influencing development in flood plains, encouraging more natural storage of water in moorlands, the creation of wetlands and the planting of woodlands.

Although the Agency is working constantly to improve flood defences and deal with the effects of climate change, the growth in private transport, domestic energy use and the number of households threatens this work.

The best way of reducing environmental problems is prevention, and that's where we've all got work to do!

We can all recycle, use public transport, cut down on the energy we use.

If we go on behaving selfishly today it will mean less for our children tomorrow.