OREANDA-NEWS. June 26, 2012. As part of its ongoing efforts at creating awareness on climate change, Tata Power, India's largest integrated power utility, held an informative session for villagers residing around its Bhira hydro power plant on climate change issues and what every citizen can do to mitigate it.

The session was organized for about 100 villagers from neighbouring areas. It covered an introduction on climate change, global warming and the green-house effect. Various methods of adopting low carbon lifestyle were highlighted in a simple and lucid manner, which the villagers found useful. Videos on resource conservation were screened at the session and the importance of protecting trees was emphasized which was well received by the audience. The villagers also engaged on importance of rain water harvesting and other methods of resource conservation that could be beneficial to them.

A presentation on "plastic free living" was also shared. Various hazards of plastic bags and its impact on environment, flora and fauna were discussed. The audience appreciated the adverse impact of plastic on environment and vowed to reduce the usage of plastic bags and use bio-degradable bags. About 45% of the villagers also brought cloth bags to receive paddy seeds that were distributed.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Mahesh Paranjpe, Head-Hydros said, "The need of the hour is to combat climate change and we believe that our communities are also an important stakeholder. We are very pleased with the outcome as several villagers expressed their appreciation for our efforts. We will continue to organize such value added initiatives in future."