It was just last Saturday (28th March 2009) that most places of the world did something in unity, Earth Hour 2009, where lights were switched off at 8:30 pm. Of course the timing is different for all countries so we wont have everyone doing the same thing at the same time.
As for me, I was at my grandmother's place and at that time we were already done with dinner. The adults were watching a DVD video downstairs and the kids/young adults were upstairs playing games. As 8:30 approaches, my little cousins told everyone to switch off their lights, unfortunately the air con was on, which I think consumes more electricity. The adults didn't bother to participate, so downstairs was bright and upstairs of the house was dark. I was typing in the dark on my keyboard and often making spelling mistakes, haha.
We wanted the children to understand global warming but they don't really get it, they're just 7, 9 and 11 years old. Well my cousin brother who is 11 understands a bit but not the younger ones, they don't even know what causes global warming. They have enjoyed the air condition since they were babies, losing the air con would be a big deal for them, they'll sweat like mad. Back in the days when I was a child, I get a fan which is quite fortunate for me.
As I look out the window, I notice the neighbours did not bother with it anyway, I guess the message was not communicated with enough power to every nation. This event was to create awareness and I feel it is important and that it should be advertised more. What we need to address is to show how global warming happens, what impact it has on mother earth, how to help even if it's just a little.
Before we address going green, I feel the first thing we need to address is recycling, it is definitely not a popular thing to do yet because you still find many rubbish in the drains causing floods to Kuala Lumpur. People are just dumping rubbish everywhere and it pains mother earth. We need to tell children, teenagers, young adults the right message, the proper thing to do or else we all know deep down, earth will be lost soon, which is what the movie The day the earth stood still tried to tell us. We are killing earth everyday!
Because I was not in the city, I did not manage to see KLCC and KL Tower with its lights off. But I did manage to obtain some pictures for other countries' event. Visit the links below to see it's beauty even though it's in the dark.
Links:
I still can't find any for Malaysia Landmarks, will edit this post once I do.
I off the lights on that hour. My neighbours off the light as well. I can see the children were accompany with their mom and playing around on the road with torchlight. Part of the street lights are off for the earth hours. Suddenly I felt I'm part of the united force wanting to make changes to the world. By turning off the lights means greater than just the action, it is the idea that will influence the society to think about the world crisis we are facing now and the future.
ReplyDeleteEarth hour 2009 is just the start of the journey to better a world. Make every hour an earth hour, use the only essential energy as you can.
I think Malaysia should have Malaysia Earth Hour every weekends! It is only 1 hour!!!! Well,if Malaysia is too big, let'z start with KL first then.
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