Earth Hour-ed....

Earth Hour 2010 in Malaysia came and went... I passed a couple of places in town on my way home at 8.45 p.m. and saw 2 establishments with their lights off. Didn't see many of the other outlets or homes answering the call of Earth Hour. The impression that one gets is that the awareness level is not that high where we are. Maybe people do know but they're just not bothered.

It creates awareness, no doubt. But I wonder how much of it will translate to action. Power generated needs to be used... so regardless of whether you switch on or off, that power that is generated would have used the necessary resources. What is needed is the willpower to do good for the environment... which actually means doing good to ourselves in the long run. And that has to come from the governments and industries.

Unfortunately, that is not so. How many of us use LED torch lights? LED torch lights are very energy efficient. Over the last couple of years, we noticed that the LED torch lights actually use less batteries. We could go almost 1 1/2 years on one single change of batteries. The normal bulb torch lights needs a battery change every 2-3 months. But surprisingly battery companies don't promote such kinds of torch lights very much... well, at least not in Malaysia. Batteries don't sell well on LED lights.. I guess it boils down to the profit... just as in forests are worth more dead than alive. The number of trees being felled in water catchment areas is worrying...

Another point... our national cars. Our national cars are not fuel efficient. A 1300cc Kembara for example has a similar (or perhaps higher) fuel consumption than some of the imported models with 2000cc. Yet the gahmen slaps high taxes on such imported cars in the name of protecting our local industries. Proton has been around for 20 over years. Yet its cars do not seem to have achieved that sort of standards. Protection hasn't pushed our 'local' car makers to strive for better quality.... the environment has to bear the pummeling as a result.

So, Earth Hour... it's good that awareness is created. But I wonder whether it's just a media blitzkrieg for its 'hip-ness'... continuous education to create awareness, government commitment, taxes and tariff at the right places for the right reasons, responsible industries; these are what's needed... I believe the technology is available to help conserve our resources but such technologies will spell less profit for many industries.... and because of that our environment is sacrificed. Oh well! I guess one day the Earth might just retaliate and give us a huge dose of our greed and irresponsibility... the signs are all there already.

As for me, I'll try to reduce the use of my air-cons by setting the timers to switch off earlier, change the way I drive so that I don't burn so much fuel, plan my errands, recycle the stuffs that are recyclable around the house, teach my children (and my students) not to be so wasteful... still my lifestyle contributes to the degradation or Mother Nature.