'I am here to terminate climate change once and for all,' Arnold Schwarzenegger tells Rediff.com contributor Rashme Sehgal.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has emerged an unlikely green warrior.
The Hollywood action film icon has, like former US vice-president Al Gore, built up a strong environmental footprint for himself.
In order to create an environmental legacy, he founded the NGO R 20, Region of Climate Action and has become a regular attendee at The Energy and Resources Institute's Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.
His conversation is peppered with dialogues from his movies, and he does not hesitate to point out, "I am here to terminate climate change once and for all."
Schwarzenegger has just finished shooting for the science fiction thriller, Terminator 5.
The Terminator series, (Terminator 1 was directed by James Cameron) has proved to be highly successful, but Schwarzenegger points out, "I have the ability to step out of the fantasy world into the real world. Let me inform you that climate change is not sci-fi, it is impacting all of us right now."
Amongst its many impacts, one that concerns this successful actor turned politician turned green activist is the fact that air pollution alone causes seven million deaths each year from which one million deaths occur in India alone.
"It is for this reason," he says, "that India needs to pay attention to indoor pollution where communities must make a transition from using conventional kerosene-based mediums to cleaner and more efficient alternatives."
That is why the TERI Lighting A Billion Lives initiative to facilitate access to clean lighting for deprived communities is so important," he says.
"I believe bringing solar energy to these poor people will make a tremendous impact," he adds.
Talking about the impact of climate change, Schwarzenegger highlights how forest fires in California were not a regular occurrence. "Now we are witnessing them all year round and that can be attributed directly to the changing climate. We need to think differently in order to win this battle," he says.
Referring to his tenure as California's governor, he emphasises that California has succeeded in producing more energy than other states in the US "because we look at environment as a health, job and people issue."
Almost a decade ago, as California governor, Schwarzenegger signed a bill which created a cap on greenhouse emissions.
A first of its kind in the US, the law set new regulations on the amount of emissions, utilities, refineries and manufacturing plants were allowed to release into the atmosphere.
He was also responsible for a second global warming bill that prohibited large utilities from making long-term contracts with suppliers who did not meet California's greenhouse norms.
The result of this initiative has been that "We (in California) have one million solar roofs."
Another initiative that he took in 2009 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions was to issue carbon credits to power plants and those plants that exceeded emissions norms would have to purchase credits to cover the difference.
Turning to India, he says, "Gujarat I hear is the California of India because I have been interacting with the prime minister of India. The prime minister has shown what action a national government can do, but also that a sub-national government is capable of showing action too."
Schwarzenegger expresses confidence now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading the solar revolution, referring to Modi's announcement that India had set a target of 100,000 MW (100 GW) from solar energy by 2020.
"What a good idea to put solar panels on canals as had been done in Gujarat," he says.
On a more personal level, determined to reduce his personal carbon footprint, Schwarzenegger has adapted one of his Hummers to run on hydrogen and another to run on biofuels apart from installing solar panels to heat his home.
Commenting on the run up to the next climate conference COP 21 in Paris later this year, he says, "We had Kyoto (conference). Everyone loves a sequel, so I hope that in Paris we can end up having Kyoto part two" -- pointing to the need to be able to ensure that all 195 nations attending the meeting will arrive at an agreement on how to reduce the carbon footprint.
Schwarznegger is an admirer of Dr R K Pachauri and once noted that it was during the TERI founder's visit to the US that the actor realised that Pachauri was a 'true celebrity' because everyone 'wanted to talk to him' and because he was mobbed wherever he went.
Schwarzenegger flew down to Delhi for a day to attend TERI's Delhi Sustainable Development Summit on February 5.
Referring to Indian states as "sub-national governments," he maintains, "sub-national governments should not wait for Paris to start taking steps to bring down their carbon emission levels. Let us work from bottom up and top down."
"When these two meet, they can create a critical mass," he says, adding, "since it is our responsibility to hand over this world in a better shape than when we inherited it."
Image: Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses the 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, February 5. Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI photo.
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