Montreal: Day 2

Well, am feeling really guilty about not blogging!!
well I tried last night but erased the whole thing by mistake so did not have the energy to do the whole thing again.
We showed our video today along with the GP international video
It was a roaring success and I really missed SolarGen India.
Not fair, we should have all been here for this!!!
From tonight we start new activities,
will keep you posted on that.
We have political briefings every evening by the GP people
so have to go for that in a while.
The atmosphere is really lively and the entertainment never stops!!
Am planning to go for a concert tonight,
will tell you how it was if I do go!!
Am getting to know lotsa people!
Have not yet met the Indian delegates,
will try to find them in a couple of days when I stop feeling so sleepy!!
All in all,
I'm learning every day here and I don't think I will ever stop!!

Montreal: Day 1.

Hello guys, I'm writing from a really costly place, costs some 150 bucks an hour! So I think i'll make this a bit brief. Arrived yesterday in Montreal [had a] very nice flight , saw some really interesting looking places especially over the Middle East (a mountain range called the zhagrosa or something like that). Then caught a connecting flight from Heathrow , London. A really busy place, planes seem to hang around like stray cattle back home. The youth hostel is a pretty cool place though a bit of a culture shock . The conference is going pretty well today; everybody is pretty kicked about the passinng of some vote referred to as the amrikesh (it's actually a place where the UNFCC was held a few years ago and an agenda was decided, finally today it was adopted by everyone , that does not include US or australia). Everyone thought that Saudi Arabia would cause some trouble but they gave in pretty eas[il]y (due to pressure or some secret agenda? We still have 2 weeks to find out.) Also, the MOP1 began today, officially. Yesterday was COP 11.

Also Rolling Sunlight (that's a coffee bar powered by solar energy, made by Greenpeace USA) came here yesterday, very cool piece of technology and an even cooler symbol of what we are trying to show to the world . We worked on it for sometime, serving organic , fairtrade coffee along with views (ours and theirs) and snacks (not necessarrily in the same order). Food is very expensive around here, not to mention bloody delicious (but I'm glad that GP is footing the bill). Will send photos somehow. Oh, and everone has praised our work on the film (thought I'll pass on the compliment). Well that's all for now, guys. Au revoir.

Orissa

The Solar Generation team in Orissa. Amrit (extreme left) and Krittika (fourth from left) will be lobbying for greater use of clean energy at the COP/MOP conference in Montreal this winter.

Six students - members of the Solar Generation, from Bangalore went to Orissa from the 15th of July to the 29th of July to understand and document the impacts of climate change on the environment and also on the lives of the people living in that region.

"Over these two weeks we mainly covered the coastal region of Orissa. Starting from Bhubaneshwar where we interviewed college professors after which we headed south to Chilika Lake. At Chilika we spoke to and interviewed many villagers who gave us their take on various issues like increase in temperature, sea level increase, erratic rainfall patterns. We also spoke to some NGOS in this area. The people of the villages surrounding the lake also spoke to us about various other issues concerning the lake like the opening of the new mouth and how it affected them. Chilika was a real treat to us personally too. The bright, red crabs, the Irrawady dolphins, the exotic colorful birds and the moonlight reflecting on a serene lake at night left me totally speechless!Next we went to Konark, where the Solar Generation obviously visited the dazzling Sun Temple! We got some lovely interviews there too before we headed to Astaranga where we saw Nuwagarh. We saw some very powerful images there- the paddy fields had been flooded by the river water and the people there spoke of regular floods and even health problems due to increase in heat.Soon we went to Talcher and the Rengali dam where we saw smoke stacks polluting the environment and loads of coal being carried in NTPC wagons. We saw dirty coal fields and nearly choked at the foul smell that settled all around us.

The fisherman told the team that the new mouth was widening and that strange marine creatures found way into the lake, sometimes even sharks. He'd been fishing for about 7 years. The fishermen faced great competition from the commercial trawlers. the trawlers not only threatened to destroy their livelihood but also destroyed the marine life.Overall we got very insightful information and wonderful images. Learning and seeing all this and more, first hand was an amazing experience! Orissa was the hottest place in India this summer with the temperature reaching 55 degree Celsius. We saw how the state was affected after the 1999 super-cyclone and how the continuous floods and droughts affected the people. But the unbreakable spirit of the people and how they always welcomed us so sweetly amazed us! Also most importantly we studied and understood the impacts of climate change first hand!"

The Beginning

Watch this space for more on how to prevent human-induced climate change