Mr Gupta:

As one of the leaders of IPCC was from China's Meterologal Office - the Other was from the USA, the one who found the solution to the Flourocarbon - Ozone depletion issue [See Montreal Acord] the problem raised by the Global warming touches your major developing competitor in Asia, China. They ordered Nuclear Power Plants from the USA [westinghouse, now owned by Japanese interest] rather than getting help in devising more powerful bombs and their delivery systems.
The Goddess Vishnu has frowned on development powered by use of fossil fuels. Thus, it is incumbent on India [as the rest of the world] to satisfy the Goddess, and switch to Nuclear/renewable power, and to limit growth by this means. Perhaps India should follow China's lead and encourage the population to follw one family one child policy. Your development need will not be so pressing when smaller families have to be supported. Note Europe and Japan can lead in fighting Global warming for they have slowly growing [Europe with immigration] or shrinking {Japan first among nations due to low fertility rate since the war] populations. One day the greedy USA will also wake up and start facing this problesm.
For India {China, Russia, Brazil etc] the problem is similar: raise living standards without fossil fuels and without destroying the forests and other ecologically important facets of Spaceship Earth. For the USA/Canada/UK and to a lesser extent the EU the problem is limiting drop in living standards for their population without endangering the rest of the ecology.

The Chinese plan of increasing investment in Rail transport [120 000 km is the plan for the next 10-15 years] Increasing Nuclear power [plan is 60 units in 5 years] Reforestation [to fight the dust storms of N China] and major Water Works [to compensate for the melting Glaciers] are some of their attempts in lowering the input into Global Warming. It is certain that they will have to do more. I have not read of any similar plans in India, though read that they want to have more N-bombs.
So I respectfully suggest that you spend your time lobbying your government for comprehensive plans in and for India, rather than bemoaning the ridiculous and self-defeating non-action of the USA.

It seems almost silly that the terms of the debate hinge on relative costs borne by each nation. Our house is burning down and we're squabbling over who is suppposed to walk out the door first - "I'm not walking out that door until you do! Its too expensive!" No one seems to have truly grasped the enormity of the changes ocurring all around us.

What Anju said is quite right "these changes transcend continents and effect one and all irrespective of the colour of one's passport" - which translates for americans like this: "When the rest of the world gets royally ----ed due to climate change and we see a worldwide depression the likes of which have never been contemplated, americans will find that their once-cushy lifestyles have disappeared into thin (hot) air".

The sad truth is that we've already let the genie out of the bottle. In all probability the semi-arid regions of the world will be utterly devastated by the warming processes already under way. Its no longer a question of "if" but of "when", and more likely than not that will be much sooner than anyone would like.

There can be no question in anyone's mind that we must undertake to change everything - fundamentally and systemically. Change on that scale will absolutely require the dedication of the world's governments and markets. Which is why I am encouraged by Mr. Gupta's forecast of "unrelenting demands for emission-cuts by developed countries" on the part of India and other developing nations.

I also sincerely hope those cuts materialize. But if they do, I hope we find that India and China make sincere efforts to change their energy policies as well, and retain a sense of realism in regards to "generous compensation... for curbing their emissions by using greener technologies". If you can get America to drag its rear end into action, don't kill the deal by demanding too much from the selfish and irritable rich uncle.

I agree with your point of view. The 'technologically and economically' developed countries are the biggest contributors to the greenhouse effect engulfing and threatening humans' existence on this earth. Nevertheless, the emerging economies like India and China too need to participate actively in curbing the fast degradation of global climate as these changes transcend continents and effect one and all irrespective of the colour of one's passport.

Conservation, efficiency, and renewables are the the keys. Having oversimplified the solution, the use of coal as the dominant fuels for for producing electricity is not going away anytime soon. The U.S., China, and India have lots of coal, and the cost of getting it out of the ground and burning it in power plants is cheap. Cheap unless, you consider the loss of life in mines and the health costs of mercury, NOX and SOX in the air, and the costs of disruptive climate change.

The next big hurdle for the U.S. is a mandatory carbon cap and trade system, which ten large corporations and four environmental groups called for last week. The corporations include GE, which builds clean coal infrastructure, including methane capture at the mines, and powerplants which capture CO2 in a pre-combution phase. These corporations are asking to be regulated and to have an emissions market that rewards innovative technology. This will add to their bottom lines, and the resultant reduction in CO2 is a bonus.

To many, clean coal is an oxymoron, but the cleanest we can make it, the better. The line in the sand in the U.S. is whether the proposed TXU plants in Texas will be built.

And how about a cap and trade on population?

This is why the governmental solutions won't work and why it is up to the individuals of the world to fix this. Shekhar Gupta has a point. Unfortunately Tirade and g.a.patel are also right. We all need to change the way we do things. Buy florescent lights for your house, turn off lights/TVs/PC/etc off when not using them, take shorter showers, turn the heat/AC down several degrees, buy hybrids not Hummers, walk more, drive less, try to live near where you work, buy better windows, buy a solar panel to supplement your energy.... We all know what we could do, we just don't do it. And governements are not the solution (they can't be both the problem and the solution, can they?). Its certainly easier to blame governments than ourselves for not "fixing" things. But ultimately, its on us.

I doubt many Americans are going to jump at the chance to curb our economy, while India and China continue to lure jobs away with the enticement of cheap labor.

India has trippled its population in last 50 years,it has destroyed forests and wild life adding large amount of polution to our planet.It is equally responsible for the world population. we must all put our effort to solve the problem, no body should be exempted.

I sympathize with your plight, but India is not the only one feeling climate change. The last 2 winters here we had ice storms in winter instead of snow storms, much more damaging & longer power outages. And our temperatures have been almost tropical all winter this time.

I saw a program on TV with computer simulations of what the rising ocean levels will do to the land masses. Half of central Africa will be under water. London might be underwater. Most coastal cities will be covered with up to 4 feet of water, like Manhattan, NY & Charleston, SC. Millions of people will be displaced from large tracts of low-lying areas.

As one of the gas-guzzling Americans, I have cut back on my driving. I am still tempted to hop in & drive on impulse, but I don't any more. I got my old bicycle out & used it for several trips to close stores. But our society is spread out. We have built housing developments 10, 20, 30 miles away from cities, without any stores within walking distance. We don't have mass transit to those outlying areas. In fact, most people here are too self-conscious - or arrogant - to walk even a few blocks. It hasn't always been like this here, but it has been for about 40 years.

Planners are talking about building new developments differently. Some are talking about larger sidewalks, houses with big porches made for socializing like we used to build, groups of houses built around a park & a group of stores all within walking distance of the houses. But mostly this is new (or 100 yrs old). It'll take a whole generation to change the recent habits we've become used to. Frankly, I'm looking forward to the change backward. It will come.

What should America do at Kyoto?