Examine what is said, not her who speaks

The report presented on the eve of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Mumbai is significant in light of the Mumbai floods (2). "Mumbaikars have experienced first hand the true costs of climate change due to global warming now linked to irresponsible power generation choices. Maharashtra must reconsider its plans to expand 4 existing TPPs and immediately stop building 4 additional TPPs to prevent worse human induced calamities."

"We are witness to the fact that w ithout urgent action, climate change will devastate life on earth. Over their lifetime these 8 Maharashtra TPPs will further add considerable CO2 that is highly avoidable to the atmosphere. Though India has no compulsion to reduce carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, we must take responsibility to proactively protect our people from climate change impacts and look beyond fossil fuels for lasting energy security," said Soumyabrata.

The report, Switching the Energy Paradigm: Towards a New Capacity Planning Approach for Maharashtra, by Professor Narasimha Rao, details the energy scenario from FY05 to FY10 and identifies that the state must adopt integrated resource planning approach (IRP) to meet its peak power shortage of 2600 MW through the implementation of energy efficiency measures.

"A programme promoting a massive uptake of efficient devices must be taken up immediately. For example, just replacement of incandescent bulbs by efficient lamp such as CFL can save 6% of total demand and reduce transmission and distribution (T&D) losses." Girish Sant, Coordinator, Prayas Energy Group said. "It costs five times more to add a MW of electricity generation through a TPP than practising energy efficiency and addressing T&D losses."

The choices made in the next five to ten years will determine the extent of the devastation faced by future generations (3). "Politicians at all levels have so far failed to take any action to avoid climate change. Maharashtra must seize the opportunity to significantly reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming without compromising the growing energy needs of the state through the IRP approach," said Soumyabrata.
Related Reports

* Narasimha Report

October 04, 2006

Notes to Editor

(1) TPPs are the biggest culprits that cause global warming and contribute nearly 21% of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
(2) "A city like Mumbai, India's business capital could be seriously affected by sea level rise. The danger from this would lie not only in the threat of complete submergence of low lying areas, but much higher level of damage from storm surges, cyclones and other extreme weather events, such as flooding that took place in 2005." Dr. R.K.Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Greenpeace volunteers unfurl a banner in front of the municipal corporation of mumbai demanding that they become Energy efficiecnt for mumbai.

Greenpeace volunteers unfurl a banner in front of the municipal corporation of mumbai demanding that they become Energy efficiecnt for mumbai.

Mumbai, India — Finally, although late by atleast ten years, the talk about climate change has trickled down to the street in Mumbai. Midday informs us that Altaf Lakadwala believes that Mallika Sherawat is spreading ‘global warming’ as Pyar Ke Side Effects. If life were a Bollywood fantasy, we could all just hop from one box office hit to another in an endless cycle.

In the drama of real life, the good times have run out and the early warning signs are here. Some scientists like John Lovelock tell us that we are past repair and hurtling towards the end. Even if that were the Truth, I wouldn’t want to give up. You can read the crisis here but I’d rather, you put your bit for the solution because it’s also equally important to get real and act.

Our very survival is at stake, and Mumbaikars better sit up and count the raindrops and connect it with the 71kg per capita carbon dioxide we emit each year. Boom or bust our Shanghai dreams will depend on our carbon score and the choices we make as produces, distributors and consumers of energy. But first, let us acknowledge that with 900 plus mm rainfall and a loss of 296 lives just behind us, 26/7 is no freak incident.

No one knows what is round the corner next; except that Dr. Pachauri who leads a team of over 2500 scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at the United Nations warns that climate change will disrupt weather patterns and make our rains, floods, storms, cyclones and droughts more intense and severe.

Every Mumbaikar must now question the BMC’s capacity and ability to lead us and prepare us to meet the next climate change induced crisis. But first things first, the BMC must know yeh climate change kya hai and what has it got to do with the flood causing heavy rains?

Which is why, at grave personal risk young volunteers decided to unfurl a banner at the doors of the BMC to demand that it urgently wake up and act. We were shocked to discover that as of this moment, the BMC did not have the slimmest shed of comprehension about the nature of the beast that is looming at our door. This clueless state of affairs is a crisis of its own, a wheel within a wheel. We were shocked that the solution they prescribe to the crisis is an investment of Rs.1200 crore over five years to improve storm water drains. This is band aid for a patient in the ICU. Too little, totally thoughtless, and very, very irresponsible.

We therefore nailed the problem at the BMC doorstep. They will now know and learn to make the connections that cause the climate change crisis and comprehend the true enormity of catastrophe before us. It is a global warning and the Mumbai floods are one manifestation too close to be ignored any more.

We therefore installed road signs outside the BMC building. These hazard signs depict scenes of trauma that a Mumbaikar has been through and warn that a Mumbaikar’s life has a ‘Climate Change Zone Ahead’. The signs are a citizen’s demand to the BMC that Mumbaikars expect a blueprint and a road map on how the custodians of the city plan to prepare us for the worst and navigate us safely through the climate crisis.

The BMC reacted immediately. Security asked Greenpeace volunteers to disband, quickly dismantled the signs and took them away from sight. We now expect that the BMC address the crisis with similar promptness. It will be costly for Mumbaikars if the climate change crisis is not a firm priority on the city agenda.

It is time the BMC quickly pulled up its climate change rain induced soaked socks and got its act together.