India’s PM Says West is Environmentally Wasteful

CHIDAMBARAM, India — Slamming the West for its “environmentally wasteful lifestyle”, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called on Wednesday for industrialised nations to look at alterative energy sources to save the environment.

“We, in the developing world, cannot afford to ape the West in terms of its environmentally wasteful lifestyle,” Singh said at a science conference in Chidambaram, 195 km (120 miles) south of Tamil Nadu’s state capital, Chennai.

“Equally, developed industrial economies must realise that they too must alter their consumption patterns so that few do not draw upon so much of the Earth’s resources.”

Experts say the progressive use of primary energy sources such as coal and subsequent unchecked carbon emissions could see temperatures rise by 2-3 degrees Celsius in the next 50 years.

Reuters