· `Bangalore releases 20 million kg of carbon dioxide daily'

· Delegates plant a solitary sapling after the programme

BANGALORE: At a chrome-and-glass, centrally air-conditioned venue, representatives from several IT firms listened ardently to lectures on power consumption, carbon emissions and their impact on climate change. "The lectures are not meant to scare you, they are meant to terrify you," said one "expert" who was hired to speak on the subject.

Double-ended

The programme, showcased as the "first-ever industry workshop on environment responsibility @ work", was organised by an international IT company here. It turned out to be a cross between a showcase of corporate social responsibility and motivational therapy. "Isn't she a beauty? Let us strive to save her. She is worth it," exclaimed a speaker, pointing to a satellite image of the earth and nearly in tears, reminiscent of Al Gore in his "An Inconvenient Truth".

He said that Bangalore's population of eight million created an ecological footprint equivalent to 75 million people, and the city released 20 million kg of carbon dioxide every day.

Suitably terrified by now, the audience, comprising IT professionals, began to offer their own theories about the strange things that global warming was doing. "Have you noticed that crows and sparrows have gone extinct in Bangalore?" asked one.

Another spoke of a species of bird, whose disappearance, she swore, had been responsible for the phenomenal rise in the number of mosquitoes in the city. At this point, the talk was interrupted for a few seconds by a power failure, which was quickly rectified through the use of a fuel-guzzling generator. It continued now with suggestions being thrown up on steps that could be taken to stop global warming in its tracks.

`Consume less'

"Consume less... I mean, why do you need 14 light bulbs in the bathroom?" asked a speaker, who was standing beneath four times that number of bulbs. "And use ceramic mugs instead of paper cups."

Of course, no "save the planet" lecture is complete without an oath to plant a tree.

So the population in the lecture room duly trooped out to a patch of lawn that undulated with Mexican grass, and planted a solitary sapling.

How many trees once stood in that sprawling complex is anyone's guess