US needs to change lifestyle to save planet: India

UNITED NATIONS: Ahead of the Climate Change Summit here, India has underlined the need for the United States to embark on a "lifestyle change" to save the planet as New Delhi said it was on the path to unilateral voluntary mitigation measures by 2020 to combat climate change.

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who is in New York to attend the Climate Change Summit, told an audience here that India was on the path to unilateral voluntary mitigation measures by 2020.

These would include mandatory fuel efficiency standards, renewable energy initiatives, clean coal technologies, and lower methane farming, he said.

Ramesh and climate change expert Rajendra Pachauri underlined the need for the US to bring about a "lifestyle change" to combat climate change.

"In terms of lifestyle changes the time has come that we should not be shy about raising this issue," said Pachauri, the chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

He said it was time for "major changes" in our value systems. "There is a ground swell of public opinion also that some major changes have to be made in value systems," Pachauri said.

"If it is affecting the rest of the planet then it should be up for negotiation," the scientist underlined.

-PTI