Feature story - November 28, 2005
BANGALORE, India — When politicians from around the world meet next week to talk about climate change, young people who will have to live with the consequences of their action or inaction will be nearby, ready to give them a nudge in the right direction.
The Solar Generation team : the entire solar generation team at Bhubaneshwar before the expedition. From left - Amrit Bakshi, Salil Mukhia, Shashank Srinivasan, Kruttika Vishwanathan, Soumya Tripathi (local guide), Radhika Timbadia, Akshay, and Anmol Basnet.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, about 40 nations have agreed to curb
emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by
2008-12. But this agreement alone will not arrest global warming,
which is increasing at an alarming rate.
Leaders from around 190 countries will be meeting in Montreal
between the 29th of November and the 10th of December, trying to
expand this agreement to further the fight against global warming.
And members of the Greenpeace Solar Generation will be there to
make sure that they don't back away from their
responsibilities.
Climate change is already starting to impact our daily lives, as
the members of the Indian chapter of Solar Generation saw with
their own eyes when they traveled to
Orissa earlier this year. The documentary that they filmed in
Orissa will travel with them to Montreal, so that decision-makers
can see these impacts too. Climate change is causing sea levels to
rise, fields to fill with salt, and dangerous diseases like malaria
to become more prevalent. And this is just the beginning.
The Solar Generation representatives, Amruth Bakshi and Kruttika
Viswanath, will be presenting the Indian delegation to the MoP
(Meeting of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change) with copies of their film and hundreds of letters
signed by students from across India. They will be asking these
delegates to push for policies that favour the use of renewable
energy and the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels. They will
be asking India to lead the way to a landmark commitment to
arresting climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.
Here's how you can help them:
Download the text
of the letter here. Add your name and email address at the end,
and mail it to 
. Forward the letter to as many people as you can think of, and
tell them why its important to make a stand. Amruth and Kruttika
will carry your letter with them to Montreal, and your voice will
join thousands of others, raised against climate change.
Watch this space for regular updates from Amruth and Kruttika on
what Solar Generation members from around the world are doing to
make sure the MoP is successful.