Monday, March 16, 2009

Earth Hour..what??

On 28th March, everyone is encouraged to switch off their lights from 8.30pm til 9.30pm.

Ok, just a few things that I want to voice out. Switching off lights...how bout computers, television and other stuff that has lights, do I need to switch it off too??

8.30pm is when I have my dinner, so candle night dinner?? Then I'll be also polluting in a way since candle uses oxygen to burn and releases carbon dioxide and stuff. I'm sure restaurants which are smart will promote this Earth Hour and charge even more since it's Candle Night Dinner.

How about shopping complex?? Will the customers be provided with torch lights?? If not, then how are the shoppers walk around in a huge complex IN DARKNESS?? So I doubt shopping complexes will join this programme.

Let's say I close my shop at 10pm. So I join this programme and switch off my shop's lights from 8.30pm to 9.30 pm then turn it on for another 30 minutes then close shop???!!! I wonder if I'll have customers coming in. So now what? Close my shop at 8.30pm?? Then I'll lose out a lot of money...

Just a little negative but hey, I am switching off my house lights at that time....just wondering...and I got to go...for an interview now!!!

Wish me luck =)

9 comments:

AaRoN lEE said...

earth hour is actually more of awareness, thou switchin off the lights for just 1 hour do make an impact. earthhour is a voluntary work, of coz we wouldnt expect the whole city to be pitch black, only unnecessary lights like the decorative lights of the shopping complex's entrance, bridges, buildings... as i said, more of awareness, therfore about what lights shud be off, its all up to u.

Vote Earth. Its the least one can do.

Anonymous said...

me thinks that such days which r meant to 'raise awareness' r frequently overrated.

IMO, it isn't much more than a gimmick 2 make ppl feel good dat they're doing sumtin.

the problem here as with most other issues is wif the willingness 2 take action rather than the awareness dat such a problem exists.

it's the typical 'dun care' attitude dat a lot of us (esp malaysians) hv.

P/S: u might wonder why i'm posting such a long comment, well it's coz i couldn't 'tahan' reading the previous 2 :P

Nel Ong said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

[Aaron] Ya I know it's about raising awareness but this is a country where we are having headache due to recession and hence economy is quite vital for the country.

About my post, it was just a few problems that I wanna address, maybe not significant, but I was just wondering =)

I thought the whole city to be pitch black would be cool...and lucky for the robbers too...hmm...

[Steven] Yup, we Malaysians are VERY famous for the tidak apa attitude. LOL, always write about it in essays last time =P

Why? What's with the previous 2??

charhcy said...

Hi, I just happen to drop into yr blog from a friend's. I'd just like to comment on 'Steven's' comment.

Yup, its quite evident that Msians are 'tidak apa', but doing nothing at all just cuz we feel its wasted effort is rather sad too.

At least there is a positive step taken to remind yet again. At least in future, when the earth really crumbles, no one can point to each other asking why no emphasis or effort was made to remind/bring to awareness, etc.

It may really be, as you said, that Malaysia's getting involved just to look good.. But I would say that though its for an ulterior motive, it still results in a good show of support for a good cause. So, what's the harm?

Cheers.

Unknown said...

the level of awareness in Malaysia isnt that high yet. It cant really work in Asian countries.

Anonymous said...

haha, i'm sure u never expected such response when u wrote this post :D

well the previous 2 comments were making it sound as if the 1 hour lights off is one of the most noble things you can do and how it can make a HUGE difference.

anyway, 1 of my points was dat malaysians exaggerate the things they do. 4 example, if they pay 4 income tax, they'll think dat they own every road and streetlight there is in this country. so if you ask them 2 switch off the lights 4 1 hour, they'll probably conclude that they've done enough conservation work for their entire lifetime.

Such a superficial initiative is not going to be enough to change the mindset of the people. Let me get this straight, if one really wants to "Save The Environment", it needs to be a day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute effort. And even then, current research has shown that there is NO WAY we can actually reverse the amount of damage that we've done over the years.

So seriously, "Earth Hour" is NOT going to do..it needs to be more of an "Earth Life!"

And for those who really want to raise awareness about this issue it is my opinion that you should think about teaching people other things that they can do from a day to day basis than just switching off the lights (when in fact they actually need to use them..like for studying!)

Teddy said...

Agree... if someone thinks of making a difference in preserving the environment, taking up good habits like not wasting water and electricity, and keeping the environment clean and recycling will have a better impact than a so-called one hour withdrawal from electric usage and then bragging about it as if they've made such a great achievement... Some might even just end up organising a barbeque within that hour and release countless amount of charcoal smoke into the air for all we know lol...

charhcy said...

As all have already mentioned, Earth Hour is mainly for awareness. How much they can influence a person's behavior to conserve nature is, however, questionable.

Anyway, great debate all..=)I guess that we as individuals who seem more passionate in this issue should do our part as best as we could ourselves, instead of only criticizing the effort of these organizations.

I do believe too that it is impossible to rewind what harm we have already done to mother nature. So I guess we should also start thinking what's going to happen after that, and prepare for it.

God bless.=)