The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Penguins' run for a cause

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 20, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Penguins' run for a cause

Staff Reporter

HELP US: Greenpeace activists dressed as penguins taking part in the `Midnight Marathon' in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: A family of displaced `penguins' from the Antarctica was spotted on the streets of Bangalore on Saturday as they joined thousands of others in the `Midnight Marathon' holding placards with the message "Stop Climate Change, Ban the Bulb."

The penguins, one of the early victims of climate change, which is melting the polar ice caps, ran to protest against this greatest environmental threat and to alert India, which will be one of the worst affected, about its impacts. The penguin family (actually they were humans in disguise) had initiated their protest against climate change at the India Gate in New Delhi a fortnight ago.

"Our homes are endangered and we have learnt it's because of climate change. We made this arduous journey across the globe to call for help. Everyone who can do anything to help us must! Just as we are threatened now, India is going to be too. We are here to support Greenpeace's initiative to ban the incandescent light bulb to fight climate change," said the one of the penguins. The youngest member of the penguin family added, "It's not nice to melt our ice."

Using the penguin story to narrate in an entertaining manner the otherwise grim impact of climate change, Greenpeace used the occasion of the rally to ask concerned individuals to act now to save the future.

"For a developing country like India, ensuring energy efficiency across all sectors is imperative for fighting climate change and banning the bulb is a very simple first step in that direction."

The IT Marathon flagged off by Minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu at the iGates campus which attracted some 2,000 participants and some very familiar faces in the Page 3 circuit.

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