ONE OF Britain's most controversial environmental campaigners has chosen Llandeilo's St John Ambulance Hall as the venue to kick off his first national tour.

Paul Mobbs, an author and former director of Friends of the Earth, leads a free workshop Think Globally Act Personally on March 12 to examine whether or not government action aimed at curbing carbon emissions will prove futile.

The workshop is quite a coup for hosts Dinefwr Green Group.

DGG campaigns co-ordinator Tim Shaw said: "Paul will be giving a talk in over 28 places around Britain in April and May and we are delighted he is coming here first to lead this workshop.

"He is a very well known figure in the environmental movement who excites controversey wherever he addresses groups.

"For example, in his book Energy Beyond Oil he uses hard statistics - many of them government-sourced - rather than wistful green ideology to illustrate his argument.

"He describes energy in engineering terms as to what is achieveable or otherwise and this more balanced, scientific approach often puts him at odds with the mainstream environmental movement."

Commentators have dubbed Mr Mobbs' book Energy Beyond Oil as an essential survival guide as it gives a practical insight into the viability or otherwise of alternative energy systems and says current economic systems cannot deliver the consumption cutbacks necessary to avert global disaster.

And he encourages people as individuals to take action themselves to bring about the radical changes necessary to slow climate change as all that governments can effectively offer is lip service.

He is also working on a follow-up to be called Less is a Four Letter Word - a book which emphasises the importance of cutting energy use to curb global warming rather than relying on building alternative energy systems.

The workshop, which starts at 7.45pm, will also preview some of the forthcoming work on energy use and misuse by the Free Range Network - a leader-free, ad-hoc group that aims to empower people through common activities to develop areas of interest within an environmental and human rights framework.

DGG is currently organising a talk by Banbury-based Mr Mobbs in Ammanford on April 20 and Ceredigion group Paths to the Future one in Lampter on April 23.