'Realise danger, start taking small steps'

Plant saplings, limit use of vehicles to save earth

 
He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the World Earth Day celebrations organised by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board in association with the Ocean and Atmospheric Science and Technology Cell in Marine Geology and Geophysics (OASTCMGG) department of the Mangalore University at Mangalagangothri here on Thursday. He said that heavy amount of deforestation took place in the process of rapid industrialisation harming earth’s environment. The ice at the poles has started to melt due to the rise in earth’s temperature, he added.

“We must realise the danger and start taking small steps including planting saplings, limiting the use of vehicles, electric equipment and fuel. These might be small steps, but when a billion people follow the measures together, one can definitely see the result,” Mohandas suggested.

“Stringent laws should be framed to make people realise the importance of protecting the nature. Every nation has to cut down the carbon emissions to reduce the effects of global warming. Summits and conferences like Rio and Copenhagen can make laws. But if we have to save the planet, we have to wake up now and contribute in our own green ways,” he added.

Quoting Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, Mohandas said, “the most vulnerable country in the world to climate change is India.” Emerging countries including India seem to have got stuck between growth and green growth, he added.
The past century has seen a rise of nearly 0.75 degrees celsius in global temperatures and if nothing is done to stem the rise, they are bound to go up further, Mohandas warned.

In his presidential address, Mangalore University Vice Chancellor T C Shivashankara Murthy said that the Mother Earth, which created man, was happy for 4.6 billion years.
“But tomorrow the same Mother Earth will feel regretted for creating man, who destroy the natural resources,” he added.

OASTCMGG Research Co-ordinator Dr C Krishnaiah and Mangalore University Marine Geology Department retired professor K R Subrahmanya were present.