i’m sure u’ve heard it, but what is it? what’’s with all this buzz? how many ppl are actually doing it? and the tagline that they’ve been using pretty often: can i make a difference?
earth hour is in it’s 3rd year running, starting solely in sydney australia, spreading to 35 countries last year and growing to 82 countries this year. it’s a worldwide event where businesses and households switch off their nonessential lights for an hour.
there’s a whole lot of articles you can read about it online, but the gist is switching off things you don’t really need for an hour. its so simple. anyone can do it. everyone should do it. but knowing humankind, there is always the few that disagree.
I READ with amazement and irony the efforts of WWF Malaysia to latch on to the Earth Hour event and all the celebrities, media and corporations that have come up in support.
It is amazing that people are so easily taken in by a mere publicity stunt that fails at the very essence. Turning off our lights for one hour on one designated day of the year to save our planet surely is a PR event at best.
It shames the thousands of devoted people, government bodies, scientists and environmentalists that have for years been working on finding real solutions to address this global concern. Malaysians should see past this gimmick by international NGOs and start changing their lifestyles. Surely we can be more proactive and not be fed by an agenda of international bodies.
Why don’t we implement power conservation programmes, ride public transport on certain days in a month, car pool, etc?
It is also ironic that the organiser, WWF Malaysia, up until very recently, did not even have a climate change programme to begin with when all others (even local groups and individuals) have been persistent in their pleas for Malaysians to take action.
Remember, our leaders signed the Kyoto Protocol and there has been concerted movement towards reaching solutions. Please let us all be enlightened and move away from celebrations and gimmicks.
MARCUS,
Petaling Jaya.
some would say that switching off lights for 1 hour even on a global scale is “insignificant” and more of a publicity stunt than an actual way to safe our earth. well, i couldn’t agree more. it in fact IS a publicity stunt. the amount of energy or carbon emmissions we safe is in fact INSIGNIFICANT so to speak.
so if it is merely publicity, and insignificant in its results, why do it? i have 2 reasons for you.
- a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step no? i can’t speak on behalf of wwf, but i think the bigger goal is to indeed aware ppl that if everyone did something, big things can change. its a simple concept that almost everyone believes but yet is a selective hypocrite to certain situations. a simple example. vitamins, exercise, even conversation. 3 things that should well cover 100% of the world’s population. take these 3 things, and isolate them down to 1 unit of each. take 1 vitamin in your whole lifetime. exercise once in your whole lifetime. have a conversation once in your whole lifetime. the result would be unanimous. they would’ve been INSIGNIFICANT things that you’ve done in your life, right? but you still do it nonetheless. why? if its insignificant, why are you still doing it?!?!? bloody cynical selfish hypocrite you are.
- there is a certain power in masses. this is pretty simple. if you’re the only one doing it, chances are you won’t stick to it. if everyone is doing it, its easier for you to do it again, and again, and again. simple eh?
so don’t be so short sighted as to see earth hour as merely a 1hour energy saving publicity stunt. that IS what it is, but that’s not what it wants to do. i mean, they didn’t say “save the earth just this once” did they?
if you still haven’t gotten the point. wwf just wants to scream out to the whole world, much like al gore in his movie, just to let ppl know. hey, you CAN do something you know?
dear marcus,
i am deeply saddenned for the human being that you are. you sound very knowledgable yet you fail to be just a little bit more long sighted in your observations of earth hour. i may not know as much as you do, like how wwf malaysia had no climate change programme, but i know that i am happy that they are doing something now.
i would be very interested to know what do YOU do to save our planet earth. i’m guessing nothing much, since anything you do would be insignificant to our dear earth right?
you do have many interesting suggestions on saving our planet, but are you doing anything about it? are you telling everyone around you that they can do something about it? what impact has your actions done? don’t u see that we, as shallow naive human beings, sometimes DO need a publicity stunt to push us into the right direction?
nah, i guess you’re too smart for that.
~
on a more celebrative note, underheadlights will be making its debut performance of the year in support of earth hour! read all about it here!
one of our sponsors, digi will also be present there to take your pledges to switch off your lights during earth hour. if u haven’t pledged yet, come to pledge! you’ll get a free compilation cd containing tracks from altered frequency, scene at the movies, army of three, us (of course), pg165, unabashed and many more! did i mention its free? both the gig AND the cd. what more could you ask for? if you haven’t seen us live, or any of the bands performing live before, you will be blown away. literally, musically, and volume-ally =P
so come come come! and don’t come alone, let’s bring this place down! urbanattic is a major cool chillout place! =]
