| In October 2007, Al Gore accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace with the words “I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.” At precisely the same moment, six Greenpeace activists broke into a highly-secure coal-power plant in Kolaghat. They made their way straight to one of the station’s six chimneys and started climbing. At 260 feet, they stopped, secured themselves, and swung over the edge of the tower. The only thing keeping them secure was a 9mm rope, years of training, and a heartbreaking love for the planet. Suspended high above a vast toxic wasteland of coal – the dirtiest fuel known to humankind – they opened their backpacks. Out came 5 litres of black paint. And two industrial-grade paintbrushes. Then, in ten-foot-high letters on the side of the tower, they started painting a damning message against climate change. Even in the early-morning breeze, the air was thick with coal soot. Every breath made one want to vomit. A dead hawk lay on the parapet. It was impossible to talk too. They couldn’t hear themselves over the wind blowing in from the Bay of Bengal. And the coal-power plant was noisier than a rock concert just before the end of the world. Deaf and out of breath, their biggest fear wasn’t falling to their deaths. Their biggest fear was making a spelling mistake. But the message they left there (without any spelling mistakes) should be a Statutory Warning on every single chimney of every single coal-power plant in this country and on this planet: SMOKING KILLS! Their work done, they climbed down. And for alerting our nation to the causes and perils of climate change, the six activists – one of them six weeks pregnant at the time – were arrested and thrown into jail. Nearly two years later, the unbelievable charges against them (ranging from tresspass to terrorism) are yet to be dropped. Their case, unreported by the media, drags on in court. Meanwhile, climate change continues unchecked. The monsoon has failed. Nearly half of the country’s 626 districts are paralysed by drought. As a result, India is facing inflation and is forced to import food. In spite of all this, our government doesn’t seem to be waking up to climate change. Instead of building less coal-power plants, we’re building more of them. This is shameful. This is stupid. And this has to stop. What will it take? It will take more than six Greenpeace activsts willing to go to jail. It will take more than you and me. It will take a HUGE number of people like us, every one of them joining the long war against climate change. We think it’s time to get all of them together. Click here to turn Greenpeace’s fight against climate change into India’s fight against climate change. Love. Peace Justice. The Vote4Earth Team PS: Greenpeace’s campaign against climate change is only as strong as the number of ordinary Indian citizens that support it. On our own, we’re alone. Together with others, we’re a force. Please get others to join this campaign so we can become a force that neither governments nor powerful corporations can ignore.
|
