CHENNAI: After Sydney, London and more recently Mumbai, the Lights Out campaign aimed at creating awareness about the dangers of global warming has arrived in Chennai and the campaign is gaining momentum ahead of the D-day on August 8.
In Chennai the campaign has been christened '88888 Lights Out' as citizens are expected to turn off their lights for 8 minutes at the 8th hour in 8th month of the 8th year of the millennium.
The campaign is being spearheaded by the Exnoral International's Civil Exnora unit.
Campaigns held in Sydney, London and more recently, Mumbai, have proved effective in lowering power consumption. In fact, if the greenhouse reduction achieved in Sydney when 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses turned off their lights for an hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road.
Civic Exnora is also taking other steps to clean the air as demonstrated by the launch of 'Bamboo Exnora' here on Sunday. In partnership with a private biotech firm, the members of the organisation aim to make Chennai the world's first carbon-neutral city by planting more bamboo trees.
"With the climate changing due to higher levels of carbon-di-oxide in the atmosphere, we need to find methods to absorb the carbon that we rapidly generate. Trees do this by photosynthesis but bamboo does it five times faster than the others," said Dr N Bharathi, director, Grow more Biotech Limited, who has played an active role in the initiative.
According to him, a full-grown bamboo tree can absorb 500 kg of CO2 a year and release 360 kg of oxygen in the process. "We have estimated that the city emits 16 million tonnes of CO2 a year. Assuming that 10 million tonnes are absorbed by the existing green cover, it leaves another 6 million tonnes in the balance. This can be effectively neutralised by planting 12 million bamboo trees. Though it may seem like a big number, if each citizen plants a sapling once in his/her lifetime, we can achieve this goal," Dr Bharathi said.
M B Nirmal, founder chairperson, Civic Exnora, said, each sapling was available for Rs 100 at the Bamboo Exnora.
"Members of the organisation will be available to guide individuals on how to plant the trees, give information on the soil type, area needed and so on," he added.
In Chennai the campaign has been christened '88888 Lights Out' as citizens are expected to turn off their lights for 8 minutes at the 8th hour in 8th month of the 8th year of the millennium.
The campaign is being spearheaded by the Exnoral International's Civil Exnora unit.
Campaigns held in Sydney, London and more recently, Mumbai, have proved effective in lowering power consumption. In fact, if the greenhouse reduction achieved in Sydney when 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses turned off their lights for an hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road.
Civic Exnora is also taking other steps to clean the air as demonstrated by the launch of 'Bamboo Exnora' here on Sunday. In partnership with a private biotech firm, the members of the organisation aim to make Chennai the world's first carbon-neutral city by planting more bamboo trees.
"With the climate changing due to higher levels of carbon-di-oxide in the atmosphere, we need to find methods to absorb the carbon that we rapidly generate. Trees do this by photosynthesis but bamboo does it five times faster than the others," said Dr N Bharathi, director, Grow more Biotech Limited, who has played an active role in the initiative.
According to him, a full-grown bamboo tree can absorb 500 kg of CO2 a year and release 360 kg of oxygen in the process. "We have estimated that the city emits 16 million tonnes of CO2 a year. Assuming that 10 million tonnes are absorbed by the existing green cover, it leaves another 6 million tonnes in the balance. This can be effectively neutralised by planting 12 million bamboo trees. Though it may seem like a big number, if each citizen plants a sapling once in his/her lifetime, we can achieve this goal," Dr Bharathi said.
M B Nirmal, founder chairperson, Civic Exnora, said, each sapling was available for Rs 100 at the Bamboo Exnora.
"Members of the organisation will be available to guide individuals on how to plant the trees, give information on the soil type, area needed and so on," he added.
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