event that is occurring later today - Earth Hour.
Firstly, let me clarify myself. When I mentioned "Hippy" in my
Facebook status, I was referring to the kinds of Al Gore -
Environmentalists, not pot-smoking people in rainbow shirts and
holding up peace signs. The modern definition of hippy has changed to
environmentalists, or so I thought. So, my apologies for not
clarifying myself, but that's how I roll.
And can I say, what is up with the people commenting on my status? Are
you guys doing this to get attention, regardless of a person's image?
Sometimes, I feel the comments can get a little carried away. My 2
cents.
Back to the Earth Hour topic - Many people say Earth Hour is a huge
publicity stunt - sometimes an oxy-moron in the way the campaign is run.
The campaign aims at one billion people worldwide to turn off their
lights for one hour, starting from 8.30pm in the respective time-
zones. In doing so, the campaign hopes to raise awareness and to push
on the leaders meeting in Copenhagen to pass on a new "protocol" to
succeed Kyoto. Note that I never said Earth Hour aimed at DIRECTLY
cutting greenhouse gas emissions. That's a very short-sighted view of
this campaign. Earth Hour 2009 had always been about the UN Climate
Change Conference to be held this December in Copenhagen, a global
voice of how important the "Copenhagen Protocol" is to the global
population. That's why Earth Hour was also called "Vote Earth" this
year. That's why there's the ambitious target of 1,000,000,000 (read:
1 billion) people.
But where did it go wrong?
Let me tell you just a few I noticed: The biggest gripe I had was the
way this event was "marketed". I saw a billboard next to Plaza
Indonesia that advertised Earth Hour. It was big - around 15m high by
5m in width. This giant billboard had to be illuminated by countless
fluorescent tube lights from behind - What say you now about Earth
Hour?! Was this really necessary? Well, I'm glad that billboard was
turned off during the one hour, but when it came back on as I drove
past it, my brother (a critique of Earth Hour) was laughing his head
off. By the way, that billboard had a Coca Cola Logo on it as well.
So, maybe it's Coca Cola's fault, since they were the sponsor in that
case. Either way, I think Earth Hour's organisers could have warned
the sponsoring companies on the "do"s and "don't"s in marketing the
event.
Another huge gripe I had was the reaction to the event. I must say, I
did turn off my lights before I left my house, so I did "vote Earth".
But I was, admittedly, a little disappointed when I was at Plaza
Senayan, only to find out that all the shops were brightly lit at
8.50pm. Nobody in the shopping mall took part in Earth Hour. It's like
it never happened. And don't blame the workers for not knowing the
time. They have a gigantic clock that plays music every one hour, so
they may be late, but they could still join in. Nobody turned off any
lights (which was what the campaign asked for. Not aircons - just
lights). Very disappointed.
My third one is, perhaps, a little on the opposite end, but it's a
valid point. Vote Earth asked you to off your lights. Fine. But they
never asked the cities to off their street lights, did they? My guess
is no. But that's what happened at Jln Jendral Sudirman, Jakarta's CBD
(and where Plaza Indonesia is located). Some of the street lights
actually went off, and the traffic lights at the round-about facing
Hyatt Hotel (yes, the famous one) were blinking yellow (for what
reason? I do not know, but those lights normally work, and they worked
after Earth Hour. Coincidence? You decide.). What for?!
Well, with all things imperfect, they have a positive outcome. I saw
almost every single floor of all the towers along the entire stretch
of Jln Jend. Sudirman go dark. (For the ones that remain on, I
understand why. This road has things like the Sun Microsystems Tower,
Embassy offices, and residential units - where you need the lights to
remain on.) I was amazed to see one of the hotels, I think it's
Mandarin Hotel, the one next to the Mercedez-Benz building, go dark
completely, even the guest building. That's ballsy on their part.
I must also say that seeing the Sudirman stretch go dark sent shivers
down my spine - I never thought Indonesians cared for the environment,
us being surrounded by an abundance of natural resources and man-made
luxuries. I've seen for too long, the consumerism side of this nation.
But never care for the environment, till yesterday. A whole city
plunged into darkness, not by force, but by choice, is quite
unimaginable. But it happened, because of one united voice of concern
for the state of the environment today and tomorrow.
I voted Earth not because I want to join a hype or because I can save
money on electricity bills. No. I'm just concerned about the world I
would be living in decades from today. Would that world be better if
we have a Copenhagen Protocol? Firstly, we won't know till we try, and
secondly, even if it will be, there's nothing I can do to make a
Copenhagen Protocol, except to turn off my light switch with
999,999,999 others in the petition to get such a protocol passed by
the people with the authority to do so. So, why did you vote Earth? Or
why did you not turn off your light switch for that one hour? Tag.
No comments:
Post a Comment