Earth Hour

Over these past few weeks, when I checked my e-mail, when I read the news, when I took a bus, or I went somewhere, I often saw the advertisement : "EARTH HOUR 60. VOTE FOR EARTH. MAKE THE DIFFERENCE." All these advertisements told us to switch off our electrical appliance for one hour at 28th March 2009, from 8.30 - 9.30 pm.

Lots of my friends 'adored' this campaign and wanted to follow this. Some of them urged me to follow them, too.

My question : How effective was this campaign?

Maybe many of you may think I do not believe 'global warming' is real. You are wrong. I believe that global warming is approaching and I urge you all to do something about that.But, I admit that I was skeptical about this campaign. I did not believe that this movement would bring such as a massive impact to this world.

Let's think about this:
Let's say around 50% of population followed the campaign. Obviously, we could see lots of dark houses near us, but it did not necessarily mean the electrical energy used decreased! Did you know that the supply still the same from the powerhouse (as the demand was still the same everyday), and if some of the population did not use the energy, so all of the electrical energy was wasted away.

Besides that, let's say a lot of people happily joined this cause. They switched off all the electrical appliances for one hour, and waited one hour to pass by. In the end, generally, they were so happy that they finished the cause (proud to be the part of this cause), and decided to celebrate it! They celebrated by watching televisions, going somewhere else, and etc. which were obviously required massive energy.

I did not entirely say that 'Earth Hour' was a useless cause. I believed that this cause could build more awareness among people that global warming is real! And, maybe, this was the main aim for this movement. I also did not mean to say all your effort to join this 'Earth Hour' was useless.

I urge you all not to just follow this 'euphoria' blatantly. Knowing that global warming is approaching us, with such disastrous effects, we should start something that are more meaningful for our beloved earth. For example, taking public transport, not using plastic bag anymore when shopping in the supermarket (please, bring your own bag!), stop wasting your electrical energy, and recycle your own rubbish. These activities, I believe, are more effective rather than 'Earth Hour'.

Further reading:
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore

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