Political will has a big role to play if we are to save our planet. Why is it we cannot find a single green politician in India? It took just a small glass bowl to bring home the message of global warming. Its mouth covered with a thin plastic, the bowl containing some soil and humus was home to a plant. Like earth is our home. The bowl had to be placed in sunlight once in a while for a few minutes and that was all the plant needed to stay alive. It was a self-sustaining system. Like earth has been. But as happens in stressed lives we lead, I left it in the sun one day and forgot about it till it was too late. When I retrieved the bowl, it burnt hot in my hands. The plant had died. This may be an extreme comparison but the fact remains that we are doing something similar to our planet. We are causing the heating up our atmosphere. Instead of protecting us, it becomes a heat trap. Already many species affected by the heat are on their way out. Inspite of all evidence, there is no let-up in the emissions. Latest studies show that since 2000 there has been a 35 per cent increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Interestingly, there has been a fall in energy efficiency! The path ahead is to develop low carbon technologies as also to improve energy efficiency. And do it in an