Fighting Climate Change

UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon called a meeting of 100 heads of States and governments to prepare the ground for the conference on climate changes to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009. India's advice to the United States at the meeting to abandon its luxurious lifestyle and exercise restraint to save the world deserves wide acclaim.

India's Advice
Needless to say that such advice have hardly any effect on the United States or other rich countries. Satisfied with their own prosperity, these are countries that ought to take the climate change issue seriously. They must examine how ruthlessly they have exploited resources, and spoilt the climate and the world, and how they can now make amends.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the inter-government panel on climate changes and Nobel laureate has also emphasized the need for the United States to change its lifestyle to fight climate changes. The United States accounts for 20 percent of the total greenhouse gas emission in the world. It consumes 12 percent of the world's bio-fuel. In this situation, it is only fair to expect the United States to come up with some strong measures.

Maintaining Fuel Capacity Standards
As far as India is concerned, it is accountable only for 5 percent of the total greenhouse gas emission. It has already started taking unilateral measures, without being asked, to overcome climate changes by 2020.

These include maintaining essential fuel capacity standards, taking initiative for durable energy, refined coal techniques, and for reduction of methane emission by dairy farms. At the same time, it cannot compromise with the country's development at any cost either.

Kyoto Protocol on Climate
As a matter of fact, the term of the "Kyoto Protocol" on climate will be over in 2012. The purpose of the Copenhagen summit is to reach an understanding that will take the place of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse emission.

Since signs of a change in climate because of global warming are quite clear, it behooves all major countries to regard the world as a joint heritage and protect it. They should stop its temperature from rising any further.