Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. (Wikipedia)
Today is the day. At 8.30 PM, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour. It's good to see thousands of Malaysians signed up to participate in Earth Hour.
Unfortunately, the real intention of 'celebrating' Earth Hour seems to be misunderstood and misused. Earth Hour is an environmental project to raise awareness of the environmental issues that the world are facing, and together, we try to address and overcome the issues to make this world a better and healthier place to live in.
However, in Malaysia, Earth Hour is quite heavily commercialized. There are a number of candlelight events, concerts, and parties are being/to be held to “celebrate” Earth Hour. All of this goes directly against the whole point of conserving energy. Why?
Read this:
When events are held, it involves transportation. People have to get to the venue. Even if they carpool, it would still involve driving, hence burning of more petrol and release of more carbon dioxide. And no matter how low-key the event (for instance, a dance in the dark), a certain amount of energy is still needed.
One of the most wasteful acts that one can do for Earth Hour is lighting candles – especially when done in masses. You would be burning candles unnecessarily, and emitting more carbon dioxide and air pollutants such as soot.
So I don't see the points of 'celebrating' Earth Hour in the forms of concert, parties, gatherings etc because all these will cause an actual increase in energy consumptions! In the end, no energy is conserved and the world has wasted an hour celebrating nothing.
It's not necessary to host a big concert just to tell people to turn off the lights. You can do it at home at no extra charge. In fact, if we really believe in saving energy, we should have 'Earth Hour' everyday and be more energy efficient in our daily lives.
Goodbye, until then.
3 Words of Love:
TNB hates this campaign
Ha'ah kan..kurang 'income' masuk..
Sooner or later, Earth hour is going to be used as a marketing technique to gain profit like Valentines's Day and New Year's Eve. Instead of saving, we end up using more energy to take part in these kinds of events.. Saving the earth shouldnt be treated like an profit opportunity but like an inner awareness that doesnt require advertising
Post a Comment