So i guess the hot question going around would be: 'Did you switch off your lights?', tying in with Earth Hour.


Lots of mixed reactions coming from everyone young and old eh. Some say it's a good cause, some it's a big gimmicky event. Welllll, i'm somewhere in between (yeah damn potong stim, i know, 'somewhere in between'), leaning more towards the latter lah.


i know it's for a good cause and some who are supporting the global event mean good intentions, and i'm happy that it's raising awareness, but see, that's where the problem lies; it's not addressing the real issue.


what's gonna happen after that one hour? are people going to continue having 'switch-off-lights-for-one-hour's for the weekends after this? what about saving on water, petrol, paper? while it's raising awareness, yes, cos of the big hoo-haa over the event, but i think what the earth would be voting for right now, if it were possible, would be that people will realise the need for and actually inculcate habits that would help save the environment. i briefed through the official website, but no i don't see any stressing on the need for each of us to remove our carbon footprints on earth. instead i see instructions on how you should liveblog about the event, upload videos, send emails about it yadda yadda; all of which actually needs electrical energy. hypocrisy much?


my dad was watching the national geographic channel and it was giving (note this)practical tips and trivia on how to save on the amount of energy you use every day. and that, would be what we need instead of just hopping onto the bandwagon without realising the importance and urgency of the situation. while (hopefully) the campaign is reaching its target of creating awareness, i believe there should also be education on what people can actually do to help save the earth (god this is starting to sound like an essay). it seems to me that people are just tapping on the 'cool' factor by actually 'voting' for Earth (and now i sound like an old grumpy grandma). but really, switching off the lights for just one hour out of the hundreds/thousands(depending on how determined you are) of hours that you could actually save on a yearly basis by simply being more mindful over the usage of electricity in your household won't make that big a difference, will it?


now i'm not going to be some hypocritical preachy person who goes around condemning and criticising considerably well-meaning environmental campaigns cos admittedly i'm not the most environmental-friendly person you can find. but in conjunction with the earth hour, i pledge (chewah) to do my part and so i'm gonna start out by.. printing on both sides of the paper. yeah told ya i'm not exactly the greenest person around but well, at least i'm trying to do my part to make a difference? and considering how anal i am with the lecture/tutorial notes that i print ie. i dislike having too many slides on one page and thus the 'need' for the single-sided notes, i'm really trying to lessen the burden i put on mother earth. sorry trees for causing your counterparts to be chopped down every single day due to my ignorance. well at least i do save on water and electrical energy. time to cut down on the plastic bags too i guess.


and in answering the topmost question, no i did not switch off all the lights in the house but i did switch off my room light and did my work in the living area with my sister.