All our lives in the year 2020 could be startlingly different from today, the UK's Environment Agency believes. Using a fictional family called the Dumills, the agency describes a Britain where solar power dominates and every loo has a robot to analyse excrement.

We can look forward to cleaner air, better public transport and an end to infuriating traffic jams, it suggests. The portrait of Britain's future was debated at the Environment 2003 conference held in London at the end of October. The attempt at futurology on the part of the Environment Agency (EA) is intended to make people think about where we might be headed if certain polices are adopted - or not.

Environmentalists and MPs have gathered for the Environment 2003 conference, co-hosted by the EA, to discuss how Britain might build a more sustainable future. Speakers were to include the Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and Tony Juniper, the head of Friends of the Earth. Margaret Beckett and Tony Juniper warn that global warming might force millions of people to move across the world because of flooding and droughts. Along with the international development minister, Hilary Benn, Ms Beckett has commissioned a new report on water and sanitation. A taskforce has also been set up to push Britain towards a more sustainable future. The initiative will encourage every household to have its own water purification and recycling unit.

Gadgets and technical fixes are only part of the answer, and a cultural shift in society is needed, according to Barbara Young, the Environment Agency's chief executive. The use of resources like power, water and wood needs to be strictly monitored - and restricted.

The chair of ExxonMobil International (Esso in Europe) was heckled by a 3000-watt broadcasting system as he made a speech in London earlier in November.

Andrew Swiger was speaking in front of hundreds of executives at the Intercontinental Hotel, during a conference called "Oil and Money", when Greenpeace broadcast the warning to "come out with your hands up".

Esso is a climate change criminal that has orchestrated a ten-year dirty tricks campaign against international action on global warming.

The warning blasted out, "You are surrounded, come out with your hands up - you and your company, Esso, are surrounded on all sides. You are surrounded by eminent scientists who tell you that global warming is happening and that it is caused by burning fossil fuels. By world leaders like Tony Blair. By the one million UK drivers who refuse to buy your products".

Five volunteers were chained to the truck to prevent it being removed. Two were cut off and all five were later arrested and charged with causing a public nuisance.

Esso has done more than anyone (except George Bush) to stop the world from tackling climate change - caused by the burning of fossil fuels. It has:

Don't buy Esso.

More than three times as many local residents support an offshore windfarm proposal in South Wales than oppose it, according to results of an independent poll carried out by ICM research.

The proposed windfarm will lie at Scarweather Sands - three miles off the coast of Porthcawl in Swansea Bay - and will produce enough electricity to supply 80,000 homes, equivalent to a town the size of Swansea. This wind farm is crucial in setting the precedent for renewable energy. If the public supports this, it could mean more wind farms will get the go-ahead in the future. Find out more about the Scarweather Sands wind farm proposal

Support for the offshore windfarm was strongest amongst those who lived closest to the coast. 58% of residents living within 3 miles of the coast supported the plans with 14% opposed. The most active public debate about the windfarm has taken place within the Bridgend authority area. Here opinions were slightly stronger with 60% in favour and 16% opposed.

The results of the independent poll represent a huge show of local support for the Scarweather Sands windfarm ahead of a public inquiry, which is taking place at Port Talbot from 4th November 2003. The inquiry is expected to take about four weeks before passing on its decision to the Welsh Assembly.