Your children or grandchildren may see tigers, penguins, sea turtles and polar bears only in books, if world leaders do not agree to cut carbon emissions soon. Experts say climate change will impact the world’s coldest regions and coasts the most and the hundreds of species inhabiting these will be hit hard. Some, such as the penguins of Antarctica which hunt over large areas for fish, may even become extinct by 2050.

With the polar ice caps melting, sea level is expected to rise, inundating areas and species along coasts.

What compounds the problem is that many species facing extinction due to the changing climate are already a threatened lot due to poaching or loss of habitat, usually due to increased human activity and the growth of farms and cities.

India may soon have to hunt for another national animal. The tiger is critically endangered, with some estimates saying less than 2,000 Royal Bengal tigers are alive in India and Bangladesh.

Environmentalists fear global warming could see the Bay of Bengal inundate large parts of the Sunderbans, one of the major habitats of the tiger, putting its chances of surviving this century at an even greater risk. India launched Project Tiger in 1973 when the cats began disappearing at an alarming rate, but the effort has not proved to be enough.

Global warming is also shrinking the habitat of polar bears, the largest land carnivores. The bears inhabit the Arctic, where the maximum temperature is 0°C (the minimum can be as low as -34°C), and eat seals in the winter. In the summer, they mostly survive on body fat since seals stay hidden in water. Global warming will mean less ice and more water and death by starvation for the bears.

Scientists fear the magnificent white-coat bear might be among the earliest victims of warming. They have already noticed the polar bear getting smaller in size due to insufficient diet caused by ice-melting. In 1973, five countries banned polar bear hunting, but environmentalists fear global warming could destroy its habitat – the Arctic Circle – before it adapts to new surroundings.

The Olive Ridley turtles, which lay eggs on the beaches of Orissa, face a unique threat. Soon, there might be no male turtles left to reproduce. The turtle’s sex is determined by the temperature in its nest – colder nests breed males. Fewer males are hatching due to rising seas and warmer beaches, threatening the turtle’s very existence.

To ensure that the hatchlings are safe, the government has banned fishing up to 20 km from the shore, has curbed human activity in nesting areas and groups have been formed to ensure the eggs hatch safely, but the ban is often flouted and nesting areas often encroached on. DNA India

You may consider yourself environmentally conscious, and you may think you’re already taking some measures to save the planet.

But do you have any idea how much carbon dioxide your household emits each year, and how effective your energy-saving measures are?

A joint council consisting of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, the Hyogo prefectural government and a number of other organizations has developed a software-based system to determine how much CO2 is emitted by a particular household.

About 100 households used the system in fiscal 2008.

After modifications, the council is expected to make a simplified version of the system available on the Internet by March. By entering information about the lifestyle of your family, models of electrical appliances you use at home, how much you pay for utilities and other information, you will be able to see the breakdown of CO2 emissions at your household and get ideas about how to reduce emissions.

Let’s use the case of an imaginary, standard family of four in Kobe as an example.

While the family members are more or less concerned about environmental issues, they use their family car relatively often. For heating, they use oil fan heaters, and in their kitchen is a refrigerator they have been using for more than 10 years.

Analysis will show this family emits about 4.9 tons of CO2 a year, ranking around 60th among 100 households of the same size. In other words, this family is not particularly eco-friendly.

Further analysis will lead to clues about where this family should focus to save more energy. The car and hot water supply account for 50 percent of the CO2 emissions in this household.

The family will be able to cut CO2 emissions by nearly 30 percent if it targets “large-volume” CO2 emitters. Specific measures include using the car less often and taking a train or an electric bicycle to go shopping, as well as installing a water-saving shower head to use less hot water.

Most of the CO2 emissions in households are from cars, hot water supply, heating, lighting and other electrical appliances.

Yusuke Matsuo, a researcher at the IGES’ Kansai Research Center in Kobe, said, “If you can identify ‘weak spots,’ that will lead to effective measures.”

Furthermore, by installing solar power generators and other energy-saving devices, sharper cuts in CO2 emissions can be achieved.

“We’d like to think about systems for making it easier to introduce photovoltaic power generation,” Matsuo said.

Meanwhile some people say, “We can’t give up on our car because we have children,” and other people say, “It would be hard to take costly measures.”

Shizuka Kurotani, a Kobe resident who is active in educating students and citizens about how to fight global warming, said, “You can continue to use whatever you need to use.”

However, Kurotani said it’s important to be “cheap” in daily life, however small the impact may be.

“By doing anything you can do, you’ll see your life is directly connected to the world environment.”

Kurotani recommends “eco cooking”–using the same pot for multiple purposes while it’s still hot–and “eco driving”–”idling” the gas pedal a little when starting a car.

According to a central government estimate, by practicing eco driving and making a conscious effort to save energy for the first five seconds of one’s drive, a driver can save about 10,000 yen a year on gasoline bills.

Consumers could also unplug electrical appliances when not in use to save standby energy.

“Being eco-friendly is also ‘friendly’ to one’s household budget and health,” Kurotani said.

It’s essential to raise your awareness about the wasteful use (of energy) while enjoying it, she added. Asahi News