Today, the 29th of March 2008, Earth Hour will be celebrated. Which means that around 20 cities across the world are going to switch off their lights from 8pm to 9pm today. This is purportedly to increase awareness about Global Warming. And yes, before you ask, no Indian city is participating in this initiative. Everyone is grumbling over this pathetic response shown by India .
Well, on a less serious note, I really don’t think any Indian city needs to participate in any initiative like the Earth Hour. We already have stuff like compulsory load shedding being thrust on us. We already save tons of carbon emissions by bearing these power cuts. Let us enjoy the wonders of electricity at least when we have it!
As G.Singh
fromGurgaon says in a comment on The Times of India website,
We have been celebrating Earth Hour for so many years in India. With electricity being cut off for hours by our State Electricity boards, what is a better way to show solidarity for this cause. I think most of the Indians are life members of this elite club of not using electricity. For a change the world joined us for one hour on March 29th. But we shall carry on our endeavour for this cause without fail for the next few years thanks to our government’s planning on power generation.
Heh. I loved that comment!
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THE SOCIAL AWARENESS this shares is priceless. At 8pm go out for a walk and meet your neighbors.
TamilNadu also follows Earth Hour without any warning.
@ Ron
Indeed, it is very important and priceless.
@ OldSailor
Hehehe…At least we have a schedule!
Given that we have forced earth hours in India (I am a resident of Gurgaon), I think it still made sense to observe Earth hour (if we Indians could bend our mind around the absurdity of it, given our electricity situation).
The primary focus is to generate awareness, and not save electricity. Despite our power outages, what are the steps that we take to reduce wastage when power is on.
@ Vaibhav
Yep, spreading awareness is the main aim. As for steps that we take to reduce wastage when power is on, I switch off the lights and fans when not needed. But I guess even that good deed gets shadowed by the long hours I spend before the computer
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@Krishna,
I realize that I just flew off the handle a bit. But I do get irritated a little and sometimes can’t look past the funny side of it, when I hear people blaming and not doing…
@ Vaibhav
I took a dig at the Earth Hour because there was plenty of literature out there on the internet which tackled the issue seriously. Therefore, I presented the lighter side of things
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Wait for summer to start. Every city in India will have the Earth hour of at least 4 hours daily.
Who is the fellow who was complaining that India is not enthusiastic about the issue?
Why is it this “earth hour” on Saturday? Why not a regular weekday, when most business are open and the impact will be truly felt? To be honest this is all hogwash. I agree with most Indians, India does not need to give in to this sham. I’m from Lucknow, we saw more than enough so called “earth hours”, and an average Indian is well aware on how to save Electricity. They probably need to be educated on industrial waste disposal, sewage, garbage, and even birth control. Earth hour will end up in very birth rate! Different focus!
@ Liju Philip
And our villages will be having no less than 8 ‘Earth Hours’ daily
@ Nitin Pande
It is on a Saturday so that everyone can sloth around in their homes and show the world that they are doing their bit to mitigate Global Warming. One more thing I observed was that almost all the cities participating in this initiative are from the ‘developed countries’ which never face a power-cut like we do. So we shouldn’t feel too bad about not participating in this. We have done quite a lot already
Interesting read. However, the sense of doing something for our planet still has creep into the minds of our countrymen. I myself came to know about earth hour only yesterday. Not enough media attention provided I guess.
@ Avinash
The Indian media doesn’t have time to focus on important issues. If they cover stuff like this, who will keep us informed of the latest happenings in the reality shows?
@Krishna Aradhi
Yep only developed country cities participated in in this propaganda, but what about US? Only two, hell they should this almost every month. They are the most guilty party! I think the only country which truly has good intentions is Canada. They had four of their biggest cities participate, which is in fact almost third of their population!!