The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : An army marches on its stomach

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 10, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

An army marches on its stomach

Raghava M.

Greenpeace alert on impending influx of people from the coastline to cities

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Greenpeace volunteers creating awareness on climate change, in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE: Wearing blue T-shirts and with faces daubed with blue paint, 30 young men and women walked along the main roads of the city. Clearly it was a demonstration but no slogans were shouted. They explained to the bemused public this was their way to highlight problems related to global warming. Members of Greenpeace’s People-in-Blue on Wednesday went around Brigade Road and M.G. Road to alert citizens about the impending influx of people staying along the seashores to cities such as Bangalore.

Director (Campaigns) of Greenpeace Divya Raghunandan said unchecked climate change was causing a rise in sea levels, altering sea shores. At least 120 million people from India and Bangladesh are likely to be displaced. “They will come to cities and occupy public spaces and cause a stir. We want people to know about it,” she said. To illustrate this, the People-in-Blue started their campaign by lining up at an ATM counter near the erstwhile Galaxy cinema. After staying there for some time they started to walk on Brigade Road, stopping to refill themselves at various eateries to snack on ice-cream, samosas and pani puris. At some outlets, they took turns to serve tea and coffee to customers.

They ended their campaign by occupying practically all the seats at the Café Coffee Day outlet on M.G. Road. A few of them were seen explaining the purpose of the campaign to perplexed street vendors.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka