Mumbaikar’s form giant Human Art sign at Juhu Beach.

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Hundreds of Mumbaikars joined Greenpeace at Juhu beach on Sunday to form a giant 8,000 sq. ft. human art design that spelled the slogan 'Switch for Mumbai' on the sand. This is part of the ongoing Greenpeace campaign promoting energy efficiency in Mumbai and asking citizens to switch their ordinary incandescent bulbs to power-saving CFLs.

Responding to the two week old public campaign, a cross-section of the city’s populace, from school children and morning walkers to housewives and families, turned up at the crack of dawn to organize this unique manifestation of the city’s desire to move towards a more energy efficient future.

Over the last 10 days an eclectic mix of Mumbaikars, from film stars to paanwallahs have ‘Switched for Mumbai’ and expressed their desire to combat climate change. The Switch campaign was launched on November 20, when Greenpeace’s ‘Pirates of the Arabian’ began ‘raiding’ the city, switching ordinary bulbs for CFLs and spreading the message of energy efficiency and the need to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change.

Since then, the Pirates have multiplied as members of the public expressed their desire to join the campaign. On Saturday December 2, simultaneous raids were conducted across the city from Mulund and Malad to Ghatkopar and Parel.

CFLs consume 1/5th the electricity used by incandescents, for the same amount of light. “If 4.5 million incandescent bulbs across Mumbai were replaced with CFLs, (less than one CFL for every two citizens), the city’s power shortage problem could be addressed without building additional power plants”, said G. Ananthapadmanabhan, Executive Director of Greenpeace India. “We are urging the government to first invest in energy efficiency measures before building new power plants.”

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