After the one-hour switch-off, the countdown, the celebrations, the candlelight parties, the darkened skylines of reknowned cities of the world, the pledging, the voting, inevitably, the Earth Hour craze and excitement withers away, and when we return to our daily lives one wonders just how Earth Hour made a difference — if any.
I remember fearing that my neighbours would think that we missed out on paying our electricity bills when I persuaded my family to make that flick last year — which true enough, resulted in a lone dark house in the whole neighbourhood. A year later, I find myself fearing my neighbours would think we’re a bunch of insensitive jerks that doesn’t give a damn about global warming if we don’t go dark by 8.30pm, 28th of March.
Although of course, it wasn’t the kiasuness that drove me to participate in Earth Hour ’09.
It was my photographer’s instinct.
Okay not really, but I spent my Earth Hour at the Kuching Waterfront for the photo opportunity, joining Siong Huo, Chee Min and his friend whose name I can’t remember (sorry!). Nonetheless, it was a disappointment seeing as there wasn’t much difference to the Kuching skyline when the clock struck 8.30pm.
Our Swinburne campus though, took us by surprise. There was talk on the campus forums that the student council failed to get the University to participate, but when we passed by the area on our way to the city, we saw Swinburne Sarawak standing in almost complete darkness.
It was so dark you could walk into the open lab and grab an LCD monitor or two and stroll out through the main entrance right past guard post unnoticed. Seriously.
My camera couldn’t focus on anything. The second shot above was exposed for a full 30 seconds with my dSLR sitting atop the car roof, making the buildings on the left in the photo above appear rather bright when in reality they were actually illuminated by the bright Simpang Tiga traffic interchange right beside the campus.
Support and publicity in Malaysia for Earth Hour this year around was phenomenal. From a little-known, let alone participated event last year, Earth Hour ’09 was blown into a full-scale publicity event complete with television, radio and print ads, online social media groups and whatnot. Because unlike last year, Malaysia was officially a participant of Earth Hour ’09.
There were even SMS rumors that SESCO will be cutting the power grid for Earth Hour (I know!). Earth Hour pleas appeared on my University’s online announcment board, top KL landmarks pledging to go dark, heck even the 80 NS camps nationwide flicked their lights off. In short, Earth Hour was everywhere.
But there was a negative side to this increased publicity and coverage of Earth Hour this year — the critics rose proportionally too, as with every other phenomenon humankind has ever experienced. When it was cool to participate in Earth Hour before, it is now apparently cooler to critic or boycott it.
People started thinking twice about the movement, citing reasons such as an hour of darkness wouldn’t leave any impact on our energy footprint, some saying Earth Hour is becoming a fad and that teenagers are participating just because of the cool factor and just to have fun. Others label Earth Hour of being a huge and pointless marketing gimmick that promises nothing concrete but a simple flick of the switch.
Seriously, have a look around.
People are missing the point. Forget the science, physics, statistics and numbers. It’s not about the gigawatts of power we’ll save, nor how much tonnes of CO2 we’ll be releasing as a result of candlelight parties. It’s about the underlying message Earth Hour organisers are trying to get out to the World — that our planet Earth is in peril because of the cancer of humans that are plaguing it, exploiting all of its resources with no end in sight. And as such, something must be done.
The thousands, even millions of people who participated in — or were even aware of - Earth Hour last night, regardless of if they switched their lights off or not, be it individuals, municipal councils, cities, towns, corporations or orgranizations, made that first step. Earth Hour has made its impact, it has served its purpose. It’s the participation, the hype, the sense of unity knowing all mankind is in something together that engraves this initiative into the masses. It is now up us to continue from there. I’ll save you explaining what should we do, because everyone ought to know by now.
At the end of the day, I implore you to ponder upon this: What if the Earth Hour initiative didn’t exist? 28th of March, 2009 would just come and go, like every other Saturday night as planet Earth spins around its axis for yet another day as it has been doing for the past 4.5 billion years. While humankind buzz on their ignorant and wasteful ways enjoying the weekend. No pledges made, no first steps taken.
Of course, it will be hard to gauge any positive impact Earth Hour might have made in the long term — so we won’t know for sure. But as far as initiatives go, Earth Hour existed for generating awareness and driving the masses to tackle our ever-deteriorating planet Earth. You can’t deny it hasn’t started making waves of change — albeit small — across the globe in view of addressing global warming.
If you’d ask me, Earth Hour is about hope.
I completely and wholeheartedly agree with your stance on Earth Hour. When it gets to a point where a day is set aside to try and do something about the use of energy in our world, one would suspect that some people out there might think: “Eureka! Maybe something DOES need to be done!”
In all honesty, that hour was one of the best hours of this past week. My girlfriend and I sat in the dark playing card games by candlelight. Devoid of the distractions of our technological “necessities” like a television and a laptop, we talked and laughed and enjoyed our own company. In fact, it was so fun, we may do it once a week–it will cut down our electricity bills if nothing else.
I simply don’t get the cynicism associated with something as wonderful as Earth Hour. So what if teenagers participate because it’s trendy? It’s a hell of a lot better than binge drinking to be popular. And even if one day may not make a noticeable impact on the damage that has already been done to our world, at least it shows that people are not only willing to try, but it also is an indicator as to the sheer amount of people who are aware that something is amiss in this world.
And on a slightly similar note: I hate taking pictures at night with my girlfriends dSLR. Especially fireworks–the long exposures make for really interesting pictures, but I get a bit impatient waiting on the shutter 😛
Exactly, Christopher. Glad you see it that way too. People just fail to realise that and start to pick on everything they can find about an initiative that only meant good and nothing else. It’s something I can’t wrap my mind around with as well.
Anyway, glad you found your Earth Hour fun! It’s definitely great to detach ourselves from technology once a while and spend some real quality time with our loved ones.
Ah your girlfriend is a photographer too! Well yeah, long exposure shots are pretty time consuming and do require some patience. And your absolutely right — if done right, they can turn out really good. Let that motivate you instead! =D
Good post here!
Well said.
Mmh. Well I’m too tired at the moment to write a polemic, but I’ve been against this year’s Earth Hour for quite a bit now. I remember thinking back in 2007 that the first Earth Hour would be a cool thing to participate in, mostly because the message then was clearer, purer, more beautiful and less tainted by popularity and coolness. There really was a drive then to spread the a cohesive message: it wasn’t JUST about lightbulbs, it was about turning off unnecessary electrical appliances. It was about pledging to cut emissions, locally.
This year, however, the message was stunted. I felt sick watching the whole affair — they could’ve sculpted ads saying ‘REMEMBER, IT’S NOT JUST ONE HOUR, IT’S A LIFESTYLE’, but nooo … it was all about turning off your lights, all about celebrity endorsements, nothing MORE than that. It could’ve been, but it wasn’t.
I posted an essay about it a couple of hours before switch time, and … well, I don’t know. I just can’t bring myself to support it. Not anymore.
Well from what I understand, your point of view is that you are against Earth Hour because of how the organisers play out their publicity campaign this year around. IMHO, it is the fundamental message behind Earth Hour that is important and is what that hasn’t changed since it started in Sydney 2007.
The organisers probably did what they did this year so that Earth Hour could reach a wider audience, hence the celebrity endorsements, etc. The wordings of the banners, scripts of their TVCs may be no more than ideas of advertising agencies which are, as we all know, more commercially-oriented.
I understand where you’re getting at and I, too, have to agree that this year’s Earth Hour’s publicity presentation is a little off. But I can’t help but wonder why should we pick on a publicity campaign. Especially one that probably is a low-budget attempt by an NGO that isn’t commercially-motivated but solely motivated for a better planet.
Furthermore, you might have known this already but the Earth Hour ’09 organisers actually made use of the participation this year to convince world leaders when they meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen. They say this all-important meet is one of the last chances humankind has to save planet Earth. If you’d ask me, Earth Hour ’09 definitely isn’t just about turning off your lights and nothing else.
It’s more of the hypocrisy la, Sheng Han. I think I’ll quote Kamigoroshi on this:
Also, Minishorts:
Now I don’t have any of their experiences, but I can identify with the hypocrisy of the entire event. It felt better focused back in 2007, when even major corporations pledged support and promised to slash emissions (imagine that!). And while I’m skeptical about Global Warming as a rallying cry, I think that any effort to increase responsible consuming is a great thing. This, however — all the concerts and the dinners and the special deals — isn’t.
(Sorry for the late replies — been quite occupied with the mid-terms. Sigh)
Hmm. Well so you guys are arguing based on the idea — or assumption — that Earth Hour wouldn’t make an impact despite the hefty spending and wasteful manner of celebrating and organising it. Do you have the statistics to back up that assumption? Note that I’m not saying that I have solid facts that Earth Hour did its job, I don’t, and I’m also sure you don’t have any that says Earth Hour “made a small impact”.. So why the lack of faith?
You’re assuming here, now, that the general population (or those that bothered) celebrated Earth Hour and went back to their old ways without a twitch in their approach towards changing their habits in tackling Global Warming. Hence your assumption that Earth Hour made only a small impact.
Can I assume the same for Earth Hour 2007 when “major corporations pledged support and promised to slash emissions” — which you seem to have so much faith in — how many corporations are still keeping their pledges until now, 2 Earth Hours later? Can you be sure some of them haven’t revert to their old ways? The WWF certainly wouldn’t have the manpower to conduct audits on corporations on whether they kept their pledges or not. So those corporations might ease on their ‘going green’ pledges over time.
We certainly hope that isn’t the case but see how I effectively downplayed Earth Hour 2007 by just showing my lack of faith in their pledges? That’s exactly how you guys downplayed Earth Hour’s effectiveness by showing the lack of faith in humankind to change their ways.
When you realise Earth Hour could’ve made a larger impact that you had initially thought, you’ll realise that the means and effort to organise Earth Hour are worth it — in a way. Of course, I don’t very much agree the concerts and stuff, but I figured the WWF have little or no control over how commercial entities decide to celebrate their Earth Hour. Even so, perhaps the WWF figured it would be worth the extra hype and measures to ensure Earth Hour a memorable event for the people.
After all, it’s really hard to organise a large scale event without sucking up a tonne of juice. (While we’re at concerts — check out how Melbourne powered theirs with bikes. Perhaps one of many examples of how large-scale events can be energy-saving.) Other than that, the WWF’s intentions are, without a doubt, good.
Clearly I don’t watch enough television because I don’t remember seeing many ads for Earth Hour or people talking against it.
I have supported it since the first time I heard about it. It’s not so just about saving energy to me.. but more of a way to show us that we rely on so many unnecessary things to be happy. Computers, television, phones, video games, etc. In that hour, my boyfriend and I spent time talking and playing cards in the candle light.. and it was just so beautiful.
Hell, I say people every where should make this a daily thing. Shut off the lights, get away from technology and just spend time together.
I’m not sure how aggressive the campaign is over there at where you are, Latrina, but I was actually referring to Malaysia’s Earth Hour campaign. Also, they weren’t talking against it over the TV (as far as I know) but rather among blogs, forums and news commentaries.
Aww. That’s actually very sweet of you and your boyfriend on how both of you spend your Earth Hour! You’re absolutely right — perhaps Earth Hour could also be seen as a chance to pull yourself away from the lure of technology once in awhile and spend quality time with your loved ones.
My best wishes to you and your boyfriend, Latrina! =D
Ah, I forgot we’re on opposite sides of the world. 😛 It’s disappointing that people would actually be against something so great as this. But that’s society for you. 😐
Have you seen any photos or blogs about Post Earth Hour? I would love to see a photo of earth or areas who supported it to contrast the differences.
@Latrina: Here’s a pretty good cover of the whole event, though from a professional (news) photographer’s point of view.
That’s okay. The internet does make the world smaller after all. 😛
As Eli James pointed out (thanks, man!), Boston’s The Big Picture’s compilation of Earth Hour ’09 photos around the world is easily the best one out there. =D
@WayeYoung and BlurryLeo, Why thank you! 😀
I heard a mention of “Earth Hour” in a passing news story on the radio.
For one brief moment I imagined what it might look like from the International Space Station… sort of like watching a “wave” of darkness washing across the planet, only to be replaced by the natural flickering of candlelight.
That was the only time I’d heard of it until I popped by here to catch up on tehCpeng.net and project 365.
Earth Hour ’09??? “Oh yeah,”… but by then it was too late.
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Just for fun… here in the United States it is April Fools Day.
Got any good practical joke stories for your next post?
Whoah. Your imagination of how Earth Hour would’ve looked like from the ISS is awesome. =P But I guess there won’t be an obvious ‘wave of darkness’ effect since Earth Hour only took place in major cities and its landmarks, not everyone switched off their lights. It would be cool to be able to see a footage of that happening though.
I’m surprised you haven’t heard of Earth Hour this year. It’s okay if you missed flicking off your lights — its the message behind the act that is important. Although you can always take part next year! =D
April fools this year for me was rather uneventful. Sigh. =(
Dude, it’s not CSS Naked Day already, is it? O.o Or is it just a problem on my end?
I used to think that Earth Hour was all about saving energy and all that, but then I realized what it was really about. I still supported Earth Hour anyway, to a certain extent. Not because I thought that it was “cool” or because I really believed in saving energy by switching off the lights for one hour, but because I believed that Earth Hour was meant to knock some sense into us egotistical humans.
Anyway, I’m just dropping by to let you know about an event coming up in April and bloggers are invited. If you’re interested, do check it out..and help me spread the word around if it’s not too much? Tickets are limited though, so act fast! See ya around! 🙂
Judging from the timestamp you posted your comment — no, it wasn’t CSS Naked Day yet at your time of writing. I’ve been experiencing partially-loaded pages lately thanks to Streamyx’s inefficiency too. But just FYI, CSS Naked Day came and went on 9th of April, 2009. =P
Ha, I like the phrase ‘knocking some sense into us egotistical humans’. I agree! That is also what I believe Earth Hour is set out to achieve.
About your Breeze Mag Launching event — it certainly sounds great. Too bad the list was already full. Anyway, I wasn’t sure if I could make it because I had something on that same day. =( Thanks a bunch for the invitation though!
Kuching not celebrating earth hour I guess… and despite Hilton saying they are into Eath Hour, but seems the did little to ask their occupants to switch off during earth hour.
Anyway, i love the photo of the swicth!
Exactly. The participation of our city municipal council would’ve made a difference, but they didn’t. Well I guess Hilton couldn’t do much to persuade their tenants to switch off their lights. They can’t possibly force them to do so right? It’s a pity not many occupants decide to turn their lights off though.
Being an organizer of my university’s Earth Hour and other environmental initiatives, I’ve read a lot of cynicism from the campus population itself. Many think that as we organize events such as Earth Hour, we’re making it a half-ass (quote: Homer Simpson) work for not going the whole way to make people change. But many fail to realize that it’s not about energy reduction being the main highlight of Earth Hour — it’s the message that we embody that is the crucial part. Many people still fail to practise good habits of energy conservation — and through Earth Hour, we are encouraging people to think more about it. As people ponder about it, they will eventually be convinced to change their habits. And remember, a small change goes a long way.
I do think that it’s a little unnecessary to have celebrity endorsement for such environmental initiatives, but if the celebrities are endorsing because of what they belief the message will help Earth and not because of how much they’re paid to say so, I have no qualms about that.
I would’ve figured you’d take part in organising Earth Hour on your campus, Teddy! And that’s exactly my point. What matters is that when people switch their lights back on, blow off their candles and return to their life, they’ll start to think twice on the real reason they celebrated the previous hour in darkness. I absolutely agree — a small change goes a long way. Spot on!
I’m not that picky of how WWF played out their advertising campaign, be it with celebrity endorsements or not. Actually I figured the celebrities did the ads voluntarily. After all, WWF is a charity. =)