WHILE I agree with the thrust of N Fletcher's letter about the Toxic Texan, Geroge W Bush, and his record (June 20), I would caution against too much anti-American rhetoric.

America may be the biggest polluter but she certainly isn't the only one. The developed world contains 20 per cent of the planet's population, consumes 80 per cent of the mostly non-renewable resources leaving 80 per cent of the earth's population to get by on what's left.

Take a look around the Vale Of York. Large power stations burning thousands of tons of fossil fuels, gridlocked city streets etc all play their part. Multiply this by the number of nations that make up the developed world and you'll get some idea of scale.

Climate changing emissions in the developed world can normally be sorted out with a few millions of cash at the moment, but in the Third World the increasingly-severe weather is paid for in lives and communities by the thousand and it's the fault of the profligate nations.

Our materialism kills innocent people.

Graham Horne,

Beech Avenue,

Bishopthorpe, York.

Updated: 11:13 Tuesday, July 03, 2001