Honestly?

Earth Hour: Is it really worth it?

 

[This is my take on Earth Hour. Yes, I know, there has been a lot of discussion online and offline regarding Earth Hour. But I am trying to look at it from both sides of the coin and see if we truly care about the environment.]

 

Earth Hour: turn your lights off for one hour in honour and respect of the planet that we live and breathe on, to enlighten people about the importance of trying to save the environment and reduce global warming.

 

Is that enough, people?

No doubt, every journey begins with a single step, no matter how small, how insignificant. But is this enough?

This is perhaps and hopefully, the start for everyone to realise the importance of trying to save our environment. With global warming and the weather going absolutely insane, it has become imperative that unless we do something, we will all suffer from the consequences.

 

So we turned off the lights and we lit our candles and we celebrated and remembered the planet Earth for an hour.

 

But is this enough?

 

Let me state my opinion on Earth Hour. I did not take part. No doubt, I did turn off the lights in my flat but I was away for the weekend. Does that count? Probably not.

 

And what did the rest of you folks do? Yes, you turned off your lights. But the computer was left running, perhaps? And back home in the sweltering temperatures of Malaysia, were the fans on? Air conditioning on? Was your laptop still running? Fridge running? TV in the background running? Yes, you turned off your lights but is that enough? Did you light candles as a replacement? This is the point I am trying to make.

 

After that one hour, when the lights came back on, what happened then? Perhaps the "feel good" moment continued to last. It continually felt good that you actually stopped and did something for the environment. But when you got back home, did you turn on the air conditioning? The fan on full blast? Perhaps even stood in front of the refrigerator to cool off for a few minutes while cursing about how hot or humid it is? Did you decide to leave the light on just because you could not be bothered to turn it off?

 

When you woke up the next morning, did you decide that in a bid to save the environment and continuing to do your part, did you decide to walk to work the next day? Take out the dusty bike and decide to burn a few calories or try and lose that spare tyre around your waist, maybe? Or if you lived too far from work, did you decide to ring up a friend or a neighbour who maybe could carpool with you or maybe you offered to pick them up to save carbon emissions from your [probably not environmentally friendly] car? Or did you look at your watch, gasp at the time and then rush off to work with your foot glued to the accelerator pedal?

When you finally reached work, did you get into your nice comfy air conditioned office and sit down and turned on your perhaps, not very energy efficient computer? Went out to lunch to buy takeaways and used the styrofoam boxes that the hawker handed you? Used a small pack of tissues from your pocket/handbag to wipe your mouth? And then, in true Malaysian fashion, chuck it on the floor/drain/anywhere else except the rubbish bin?

 

So at the end of the day, you decided to do your groceries. Plastic bags galore after you came back from the supermarket? What did you do with them? Did you throw them out? Did you decide to reuse them? Or did you decide to bring your own reusable cloth bag to carry groceries because plastic bags are so environmentally unfriendly? What did you do?

 

I applaud the crowds that turned up for the occassion. I did not particularly like the idea that candles were lit as candles are so much more costly and harmful to the environment then the standard fluorescent tube but hey, it contributed to the ambience, perhaps.

But what did you do the Earth Hour for?

Honestly. Was it a social event that you could go out with friends and hang out and perhaps talk to the cute guy/girl that you've been eyeing? Perhaps if you saw him/her there, you could pretend that you were environmentally conscious and gosh, that is sooooo attractive in a boyfriend/girlfriend nowadays?

 

Lighting candles, romantic, no? A time to just hang out and chill, entertainment, candles and oh, yeah, to reduce global warming. That's right. It seems global warming is second priority to other things.

 

I do not mean to condemn. Earth Hour is a small and quite effective start to paving the way for the welfare of our planet and our future generations that will inherit it.

 

But if we ever decide to finally be a lot more serious about the environment and global warming, our efforts have to last for longer than just one small insignificant hour.