chennai Television

The Chennai Lights out scheduled for May 1st for Global warming awareness is off. The actual plan was to gather as much population of Chennai to switch off lights in Chennai between 7-8 pm on May 1st. In fact a over optimistic Nirmal of Exnora had promised in Late January that they will reach 99 plus percent of Chennai population before May 1st. But now he concedes that they could not reach more than 1% of the population. They did organize some road shows etc plus schools campaign, but now that the exams are over and most children on vacation They feared the worst response. The call by sify for switching off lights on Earth hour between 8-9 on March 29Th was an eye opener for them. 99% of Chennai did not even know that there was something like that. The remaining 1% was also lukewarm in response. Infact I remember TN Seshan had very clearly objected the choice of date. But the rest in Exnora were very hopeful and believed in their organisational skills.

Well the plan is not completely off though. A very diluted version is being planned for August 8Th. 8 minutes starting from 8 pm on 8.8.08 is what they will request the public to switch off. They plan to reach most of Chennai before August 8Th.

“Awareness about global warming is very low in the city… we have only been able to reach one per cent of the people of Chennai so far,” said Exnora chairman M.B. Nirmal last Thursday, explaining why the Chennai Lights Out campaign is being postponed from May 1 to August 8 and reduced from one hour to eight minutes

“Many people aren’t ready to switch off their ACs for one hour in the hottest part of the year,” said campaign coordinator Miriam Chacko, explaining why the voluntary switch-off period is being reduced.

Exnora kicked off the new ‘88888’ campaign with 33 visiting Swedish students riding through the Koyambedu market on a bullock cart.

There was some confusion on what this was supposed to symbolise, with organisers saying it was meant to promote the concept of transport simplicity — reduce greenhouse gas emissions by walking, cycling or using public transport. Several speakers, however, used the slow procession as a cautionary tale — if the world runs out of fossil fuels, we could end up returning to the bullock cart.

Exnora hopes to rope in government support and the endorsement of the film community for its campaign. On April 29, an awareness meeting for film artists will be addressed by Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin, according to Mr. Nirmal.