4 days ago, a one-day summit on climate change was held in the city of New York, United States. The guest list included the charming Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s played characters like the smart and charming (the word fits all too well) Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can, Danny Archer the gunrunner in Blood Diamond, Mr Cobb in Inception or Monsieur Candie in Django Unchained. Ahem. Enough said. Leo has been supporting environmental issues by spreading awareness about them. You can read about his environmental activism here. The most recent effort done on his part is during the UN Climate Summit.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently appointed DiCaprio to serve as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, calling the actor a “new voice for climate advocacy.” Both Ban and DiCaprio participated in Sunday’s 400,000-strong People’s Climate March in New York City. – Huff Post
Coming to India’s part in this Summit, India’s Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar represented India. He stressed that in India poverty is the major polluter. It means that while wanting to actively take part in environmental initiatives, India is facing a problem on its financial and technological side. India requested for financial help when the Montreal protocol came into action in 1989. Montreal protocol as you might know, was to save our ozone layer from ozone depleting substances that the industries used on a large-scale. The protocol has been successful with developing nations given time, technology and money to actively take part in such situations. Below are the figures of India’s investment for a greener world:
Ranking of the world’s countries by 2010 total CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring reveals where India stands. India ranks 3rd, behind China and US. In the past few years, it has developed at a faster rate and as a populous country it is obvious that it’d be one of the highest polluters as it develops. It has also made efforts to make sure that it doesn’t stay that way and the figures above prove it.
Further watching:
PM Narendra Modi gave a speech today at the United Nations General Assembly, New York, USA.
anujasawant.com 