Feature story - July 18, 2009
MUMBAI, India — Children from the Bal Jivan Trust, who were visiting the Greenpeace Climate Rescue Station on Carter Road today, had a message for Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, United States of America, asking that the world’s biggest climate polluter take responsibility to avert a climate catastrophe. More than 50 children from low lying areas around Vakola, Mumbai, held up post cards of their experience during the city floods, and a banner that said “SOS - Hillary, Stop Climate Change”.
Children from low lying parts of Mumbai ask Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State currently visiting the city, to take action to save the planet from climate change. The children visited the Greenpeace Climate Rescue Station at Carter Road, Bandra, and spoke of their experiences in the Mumbai floods.
"The people of Mumbai are demanding that Hillary Clinton take
personal responsibility to prevent runaway climate change and the
massive social and environmental disaster that would ensue. This
city is vulnerable to rising sea levels, tidal surges and intense
rainfall", said Vinuta Gopal, climate campaigner, Greenpeace.
The biggest irony of climate change is that the economically
weaker sections in the developing world will be worst hit (through
floods, droughts, storm surges and disease), even though they have
the least contribution to the climate change problem. For this
reason, Greenpeace is calling on the US to accept its
responsibility and take the urgent steps needed to sharply reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions.
To avoid catastrophic climate change, developed countries must
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020
compared to 1990 levels and lower them as close to zero as possible
by 2050. But, current US climate plans are far from what is
required to solve the problem. Currently Washington has planned
cuts amounting to only 14 percent of current levels by 2020.
Statement from Greenpeace USA Deputy Campaigns Director Carroll Muffett in response to the US Climate Bill, issued on June 26, 2009:
“The passage of the inadequate ACES bill through the House today is a victory for coal industry lobbyists, oil industry lobbyists, agriculture industry lobbyists, steel and cement industry lobbyists, among many others. But it is a tremendous loss for the American people or for the world in our common fight to avert climate catastrophe.
“To avoid the worst effects of global warming, we must reduce emissions by 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and the short term target of this bill is a paltry 4%. The massive offsets in this bill means that we can continue at our current emissions level for years, and huge giveaways mean a new generation of nuclear and coal plants.
“Unless the bill is substantially strengthened in the Senate, we have a lot more work ahead of us. We are calling upon President Obama to use every tool at his disposal, both within and outside Congress, to get us back to the science-based targets he promised.”
For more information and images contact:
Vinuta Gopal, Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace +91 98455 35418
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Ashish Fernandes, Greenpeace +91 99801 99380
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