Government Senator Walton Brown urged Bermuda to wake up to the triple threat of global warming, rising fuel prices and soaring fuel costs yesterday.

He said Bermuda was not so isolated when it came to financial and ecological forces.

On global warming he said: "As a small island territory we can probably have a minimal impact but we can have an impact nonetheless. We can look at monitoring our carbon footprint and doing what we can to reduce it."

He praised the supermarkets for moving to re-usable bags.

As an Island that imported most of its food, rising commodity prices were a direct threat to Bermuda, said Sen. Brown.

And rising fuel prices, which have seen Bermuda paying twice as much as the US, was another threat said Sen. Brown.

"It has an impact on airline costs, which may have an impact on tourism arrivals and our ability to travel."

Meanwhile the oil companies were making record profits he said.

He urged Bermudians to cut fuel consumption and said he only ran the water heater in his house for two hours a day which cut his electricity bills.

He said: "We are a fragile small island territory, we are subjected to the changes in the global economic arena. We sometimes believe we are another world but we are very much immersed in the global economy."

His comments got support from Opposition Senate leader Michael Dunkley who said he believed fuel costs were not likely to fall anytime soon.

"I do believe we can weather the storm but my concern is for the less fortunate amongst us in the community who are going to be struggling more and more.

"I think it is time to deal with it, the single parents, those below the poverty line.

"There seems to be a cringe among many politicians when we talk about poverty in Bermuda but let's face the fact, there is poverty in Bermuda.

"With the rapid rise in food cost and fuel costs in Bermuda that is going to impact those people more and more."

Government Senator Marc Bean said it could be time to look at alternative food sources and trade directly with the Caribbean and South America rather than go through the middle man of North America.