The title may seem new to few, and for the few I'll brief the topic first and then start shooting the blogpost.
United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 (UNCCC 2009) is going to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark during 7th Dec to 18th Dec, 2009.
- India is the third biggest CO2 emitter in the world.
- CO2 is identified as one of the major pollutants causing greenhouse effect by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change).
- On three days' visit of the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh refused to bind India to any specific numbers in terms of emissions.
- Despite Clinton's assurance that the bond will not hamper India's economic growth, Jairam refused to change his stance.
Above statements may easily make one believe India to be THE cause behind global warming.
Now let's analyse all the statements one by one.
India is the third biggest CO2 emitter in the world.
My answer to this is India is the SECOND biggest in terms of population.
When India is second biggest in terms of population and third in terms of emissions, it clearly means India is reducing the global average of emissions.
To stress a little more on this, the first is USA, closely followed by China. Population of USA as per 2000 census was 281,421,906, less than 30% of that of India and less than 25% of that of China.
Moreover, India's annual per capita carbon dioxide emission is 1.1 tonnes, compared to 20 tonnes of that of USA.
As per the studies carried out by EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance - an organization based in USA itself), India's CO2 emissions will be nearly 1000ppm even in 2030, compared to 8000ppm of USA and 11000ppm of China. Thouh, the emissions more than 300 to 400ppm are detrimental to earth's atmosphere, why should there be a necessity for developing countries like India to cap the emissions to the same extent (or even more) compared to developed countries?
India along with many countries from south asia and Africa was ruled and exploited by the west till mid 20th century, and it is now that these countries are getting space to breathe, it is now that they are developing, as I've mentioned in one of my posts earlier, India is yet to enter cousumerism phase. A luxury for India is a necessity for USA and many more countries. Why shouldn't the developed countries cap their emissions first and then help the developing countries do the same? And this is not the first time, when this issue is occurring, Montreal protocol and Kyoto protocol probably shared the same story.
Despite Clinton's assurance that the bond will not hamper India's economic growth, Jairam refused to change his stance.
Again, Uncle Sam assures kids not to worry. I wonder, when Jairam Ramesh is doubtful about effect of bond on INDIA, how can Hillary be sure that it won't affect INDIA?
USA, being extravegant by nature, in whatever paradigm it may be; advises the whole world to abide them. Same was the story about Nuclear Power. Often it seems like a conspiracy of USA and EU to curb the grwth of Asia and Africa.
In no manner, I am opposing climate control. As per my personal experience, I am surrounded by irresponsible people wasting electricity, water and many other resources, but on national level, on industrial level, I fully agree to Mr Jairam Ramesh.
Simultaneously, I'll also advise the readers to save electricity. I am seeing people keeping the lights and fans ON, while going out. When millions of Indians are still depriving of electricity, wastage of electricity is a CRIME. The same holds true for water also.
Very true. India cannot afford to bind itself to any specific numbers. Moreover, India is doing its bit and will keep on doing it, because it understands the situation.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to point out that, majority of carbon emissions come from the urban centers, where as majority of population in India still recides in rural areas. So we, the people living in urban areas have a big role to play.
There was a confusion on my statement above: "A luxury for India is a necessity for USA and many more countries."
ReplyDeleteTo clarify: The crux was: What truly is a luxury for India and many developing countries, is treated as necessity in developed countries, which is nothing but the reflection of the spendthrift mentality of the developed countries.
I'd again emphasize on what Arpit said above.
ReplyDeleteNot to refer the names, I'd brief a small incident about many of my friends at IIT Madras. While going home for vacations for a fortnight or even a month, they are used to keep the lights and fans of their hostel rooms running.
How irresponsible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would dare to say, if a mechanical (thermal in specific) engineer cannot understand the value of electricity, all his/her education and IIT degree and bla bla bla are in vain.
When so many people are ending their lives because of lack of electricity supply (search Vidarbh, a region in Maharashtra, which is known as grave of farmers, the same holds true for some areas of AP too), can't we have enough compassion not to waste the resources, leave alone conserving???
Can't our shoulder and finger muscles take some pain to turn the lights and fans off when not needed???
This negligible pain and necessary concern of yours may save someone's life.
Indian economy is still largely based on agriculture only, which cannot survive without water and electricity. (In fact no industry can survive without these two). My heartfelt request to all the readers to conserve the energy sources, the usable forms of energy are getting exhausted, they need to be preserved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmz6Rbpnu0
ReplyDelete