BOSTON--Members from New England's political, business, scientific and religious communities joined citizens at Faneuil Hall this Saturday in a New England town meeting aimed at generating enthusiasm and activism for climate control.

Sponsored by the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHGE), the forum used a question and answer format to start a dialogue between social organizations and the public about potential solutions for global warming.

Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.), chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, gave the afternoon's keynote address on the need for immediate, concerted efforts in environmental reform.

"Uncertainty is not a reason for inaction when the cost and consequences of inaction may be so great," Chafee said. He urged the United States to take the lead in what participants termed a global crisis. He asked the nation to set an example that the world would follow.

Paul Epstein, associate director for the CHGE, added a scientific perspective to the dialogue. A gradual rise in temperature, an increase in night temperatures and a greater variability around mean temperatures are all indications that global warming has already begun to alter the world's climate, he said.

The accumulation of these effects "will affect the livelihoods of all of us," but the effects are not irreparable, Epstein said.

Epstein and Chafee's remarks, as well as short presentations by representatives from other organizations sparked a vigorous response from the audience.

Many expressed concerns about what they said they perceive as congressional inertia in enacting vigorous reform resolutions. Most who spoke out said they believed that Congress has neglected the environment by continuing to subsidize heavy industrial polluters and refusing to allocate serious funds to coming up with alternatives to fossil fuel resources.

Chafee has been one of the environment's biggest congressional supporters.

Along with Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Chafee recently introduced legislation designed to induce industries to reduce their use of greenhouse gas pollutants.

By providing financial incentives to industries that volunteer to curb their emission of these pollutants, the resolution aims to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere.