BLOG buddette Anuradha nudged me with an email some 30minutes ago remind me of EARTH HOUR. Here is some background about Earth Hour:
On
Given Googles commitment to environmental awareness and energy efficiency, we strongly support the Earth Hour campaign, and have darkened our homepage today to help spread awareness of what we hope will be a highly successful global event.
As of 27 March, over 11,900 businesses and over 200,000 individuals had indicated their intention to participate at earthhour.org.
Earth Hour 2008 will include the following asia-pacific"partner cities". Cities in Europe and the United States and Canada are committed.
Lautoka, Fiji- Suva, Fiji
Adelaide, Australia- Brisbane, Australia
- Canberra, Australia
- Melbourne, Australia
- Perth, Australia
- Sydney, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand- Christchurch, New Zealand
- Wellington, New Zealand
Bangkok, Thailand
Manila, Philippines
Singapore, Singapore
Dubai, UAE
Tel Aviv, Israel
Ahmedabad, India- New Delhi, India
- Bangalore, India
11 comments:
Zorro,
We can't afford to switch off all lights between 8-9pm much as we'll like to for security reasons but we'll switch off all non-essential lights. Just a little gesture of support.
Syabas clearwater....even the minutest effort is an effort and it counts!
haha! i'm so happy that bloggers around the world is helping spreading the message of Earth Hour.
hie im Chin Eng from YAC of Penang YAC. we are doing it in Penang. we'll se the results the. thanks again. =p
Sir,
It is a very sad blotch on our nation's position in the global arena.
Our country's leaders' missing this one hour global initiative, speaks volumes of the bankrupt social equation -- primarily caused by the political screw-ups besieging the nation.
It is even more disgraceful as the MSM did not even take upon themselves this CSR initiative to publicise and encourage Malaysians to join the world.
Fortunately, once again the bloggers' community has risen with their deep commitment for the hopes in creating a better world for a better people. Syabas.
If not for the blogs me and my family would have missed this significant global intiative in conservation.
Kudos also goes to the people of Penang now under a more considerate leadership for their efforts in keeping the one hour global watch.
Well, as for our leaders and the government -- whatever happened to all your clamouring about 'Think global, act local' and 'Think glocal'?
In essence, when corruption and self interests overtake, we miss out in being a part of that global community that is changing for the better.
There goes our Vision 2020 !!
The Honorable PM owes the nation an explanation -- especially when all cities in the neighboring countries have also joined in this worldwide cooperation.
I read about Earth Hour in the news today, and 'Malaysia' was conspicuously absent from the list of countries that included Thailand.
The government's commitment towards global environmental issues like this, and its efforts to instill awareness of these in the people, is woeful. This is despite the country's impressive suite of environmental laws and ratification of major environmental treaties and conventions. However, implementation and enforcement has always been a trademark weakness of the administration.
Thank you for highlighting Earth Hour in your blog, Zorro. It is a wonderful thing to do, especially when most other popular Malaysian blogs seldom broaden their sociopolitical focus to include environmental issues.
I think our PM is too busy putting out fires within UMNO to commit Malaysia to this worthwhile effort! :)
We can help him a little on this one...
Hi Zorro et al,
The partner cities consist of 26 major cities which include our neighbour Bangkok and Manila...
However Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are listed as "supporting city" for the move... :)
correct me if i am wrong. whether you switch on your appliances of not, the stesen janakuasa will still have to keep on generating the power. Unless the stesen janakuasa also observe earth hour?
Thank you for spreading the message of Earth Hour, a symbolic but powerful statement on the need for action on global warming.
For a crisis of this magnitude, it is rather disappointing to see our country's absence from that list. Probably a reflection of how high we place environmental issues on our political agenda and to a certain extent the rather indifferent attitude a lot of us have on this issue.
Advocacy starts at all levels, both bottom-up and top-down.
Although there is some debate about how much difference individuals can make, I believe every effort counts no matter how small. It is a matter of the willingness to make these changes in our lives.
Ultimately, there is little doubt that the solution to truly combat climate change lies in a global and collected effort between the powerful players - governments, industries, lawmakers, scientists and planning bodies.
Individual action must not be confined to only an hour every year. There must be a commitment to incorporate these changes into our daily lives. Small things - limit plastic bags use, recycling, use recycled paper, energy light bulbs, utilize our "world-class" public transport (whenever possible), spread the word around, being conscious about the impact of our actions/business on the environment etc.
No doubt it will be challenging to make these changes but it has got to start somewhere.
A link worth checking:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment/
I was dissapointed too that KL was not a participant in the global event; what a shame ...
I think the point made by Anonymous March 30, 2008 8:36 PM is very interesting and thought-provoking: as long as the power-stations which are the ones that are combusting fuel and producing the greenhouse gases continue to run as usual, then the Earth Hour gesture would be quite symbolic.
And I believe it is meant to be symbolic and awareness-raising. The impact of reduced consumption will translate into reduced production (the side which is the key effector on the climate) and hence effective reductions in emissions only if there is sustained, long-term effort: people actually reducing energy consumption significantly and permanently as part of their lifestyle.
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