Why This Matters
Global Warming threatens our very existence and the only probable solution is the realization that the primary accountability rests individually with each one of us.
Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
- A 1000 km domestic flight on any indian airline creates a footprint of 110 kg of CO2 equivalent. The same journey by rail would create a footprint of 14 kg of CO2
- A report authored by IIT, Madras states that about 125 million people in Indian coastal region could be rendered homeless by the end of the century owing to sea-level rise and accompanying drought precipitated by Global Warming.
- Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology's study on impact of climate change on water resources in India predicts an increase in extreme rainfall intensity and increased drought
- India's wind power potential is estimated at 45,000 megawatts, about a third of its total energy consumption
- MEAT THE MONSTER: One kilogram of mutton production in India causes about the same greenhouse emissions as driving a Maruti 800 for 67 km
- The India Energy Portal mentions the startling fact that India receives solar energy equivalent to over 5000 trillion kWh/year - far more than the total energy consumption of the country
- One night of air-conditioner use (1-ton AC suitable for a small sized room) results in approximately the same Carbon Footprint in just eight hours as driving a Maruti 800 for 85 kilometers
- With an installed capacity of 8,696 MW (as of July 2008), India has the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world
- According to projections made by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, around seven million people could be displaced along coastal India (including Mumbai and Chennai) if global temperatures rise by a mere 2°C
- The Carbon Footprint generated by a single roundtrip flight between India and USA / Canada overshoots the annual footprint of an average Indian by 62%
- "Going at full throttle is economically and ecologically questionable". By halving its top cruising speed, the shipping giant Maersk has cut both its fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emmissions by 30%
- The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research has reported that the shifting of growing seasons for major crops such as rice would reduce yields by up to 40%
