:: Earth Hour (but non-Earth Life??) ::

Well, every time when March is around, some people would be obsessed about Earth Hour.

"Hey, let us switch off our lights for one hour during the night time", they said.

Well, good on them. Yeah, yeah, it's a show of solidarity, care for the environment, (And maybe, to be 'in' with the group'. Maybe).

Well, forgive me if the opinion that I have may hurt some people. But there might be time when I disagree. As I think, sometimes, IF IT WAS REALLY NECESSARY, of course you'll be using lights during night time. After all, it's dark, and that's what you use when it is dark.

Furthermore, why bother doing Earth Hour if you're having a "non-Earth Life"???


Just read my following advise, and see what you should actually continuously do that will help save the Earth many many many times more than a dark Earth Hour:

1. Turn/switch off unused appliances. Yes, when you are going out, or sleeping, turn off your lights, fans, TV, laptops, speakers etc. Or if you really need them to get you to sleep, put it into a timer mode to switch off within 30minutes or so. (Yup, guess what, the electricity you save by doing this is way way way more than just an hour during Earth Hour night time).

2. Reduce usage of heating and/or cooling units. For your information, heaters, and air-conditioners are the major drain for electricity. Want to know about the figures? Go figure it out yourself on Google. If you're feeling cold, put on more on thicker clothes (or drink warm stuff). If you're feeling hot, drink lots of water, and wear less, or thinner clothes. Try not to get too hooked up on these appliances. And if you really have to use them, please do put them at a reasonable target temperature. Surely, putting a target of 16'C on your air-conditioners in a 46'C hot summer will kill the Earth by having lots and lots of coals burned to generate the electricity you're consuming. After all, having your bodies to experience a shocking change of temperature (eg. 19'C in the house to 40'C outside) would actually harm your body and health.

3. Sort out your rubbish. Yes, this might sounds silly, but it helps the Earth. Un-recycled recyclable stuff like bottles or boxes harms the Earth. Firstly, these stuff can't be biodegradable, thus it leads to bigger mounts of rubbish. And that means more landfill. More lands cannot be used for planting trees needed to help control the climates. Secondly, by having these recyclable stuff thrown away, more trees need to be cut, and more plastics had to be produced to replace them. And this adds up to the whole cycle of "making recyclable stuff to be thrown away just so that new recyclable stuff need to be made again".

4. Reduce/stop your intake of hormones or illegal/excessive drugs. Do you know that when you take those stuff, and when you urinate or shit, it gets all flushed out into the reservoir for water treatment? And do you know that hormones and drugs (which contains chemical compounds) will be a major threat to the biological system in the sea and river? Yeah, yeah, us environmental engineer have to sort it out. But did you know that: systems that can truly filter out everything is very hard to achieve? And very costly too? And do you know that in the end, these waters (hopefully, treated ones) will be released back into the waterways, and can harm/kill the aquatic life and the microorganisms that helps the Earth's cycle of gases? So, help yourselves and the Earth by saying no to these stuff.

5. Use the public transportation. Yup, a single trip with a bus, or train or tram is way more Earth-friendly than each of us individually taking our own vehicles. And it saves you money too. Oh, but they (the public transportation) doesn't appear every 5 minutes.. Well, have you heard about a great invention called a watch? Or maybe about God's greatest gift to us all called a brain? But if you still loves your ride, just minimize its usage. And try to get a better alternative as fuel.

6. Reduce your garbage generation rate. Recycle. A sheet of paper got two sides, you know? And even if you print only on one side, the other side can still be used for annotating notes, scribbling, drawing, calculations (and doodle too!). Or why don't you try these: fit multiple pages of your work/lectures/whatever on a sheet of paper (as long as it is practical and readable). Less paper used, less trees cut, less harm for the Earth. Or why don't you have it in electronic format?

So, that's my 6 advices on leading and living an Earth life. So, if you do care about the Earth (truly from the heart), please do consider about these points.

And so, if you're like me, you've tried your best to do all that you can (at least these 6 points) to save the Earth, I thank you. And may you have a good day for everyday of your life.

And maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't feel guilty then when you opt to still switch on the light so that it won't be dark when you're educating people or saving the Earth during the Earth Hour.


peace!



p/s: Please, just don't be like a famous band that uses a private jet to attend a Save-the-Earth kinda concert. (And it wasn't a better fuel alternative anyway). Really ironic! And hypocritical too!