A survey carried out by Greenpeace has revealed that the politicians of Mumbai are well aware of climate change and its threat to the planet,but most of them do not know what contributes to global warming. As part of the survey,the NGO posed 10 questions each to the leaders of the Indian National Congress and Shiv Sena. According to the survey,eight out of 10 politicians across the two parties thought that tree-felling was largely responsible for global warming while two politicians said the use of cars contribute to global warming. Only one leader of the Indian National Congress (INC) got it right. He said burning of fossil fuels,especially coal is largely responsible for global warming, said Vinuta Gopal,campaign manager of Climate and Energy,Greenpeace. The survey comes at a time when the state government is gearing up for large scale coal-based power plants across 8,300 acres on the outskirts of Mumbai in an effort to produce 10,000 MW additional electricity. It was carried out to understand general perceptions about global warming among citys politicians,opinion makers (media and advertising) and the public. In India,its not deforestation,but burning of fossil fuels like coal and petrol increases the level of carbondioxide in the atmosphere,said Vinuta Gopal. Mumbai politicians do express concerns about the environment. When informed that coal is one of the major contributors of climate change and India gets 60% of electricity by burning coal,both Sena and INC leaders said,India should reduce its dependency on coal by investing heavily on solar,wind and other renewable energies. Also,70 per cent politicians in the city said they would not agree to give up their lands or homes,if a similar proposal to build a power plant came up in Mumbai and if their homes fell in the project areas.
