Earth Hour 2011

Well, its that time of the year when we switch off unnecessary lights for 1 hour on the last Saturday of March and feel proud that we are saving electricity and helping Earth..

Grow up...

Just one hour of switching off electric appliances for 1 day of the year doesn't make you a savior...do your bit everyday...it isn't that difficult.

Read my views on the same topic at Earth Hour 2010 and Earth Hour 2009.

Earth Hour '10

Well, Earth hour started in 2007 with residents of Sydney switching off their lights. In 2008 more cities followed.

In 2009, India joined the Earth Hour movement. Over 5 million Indians and 56 Indian cities showed their support by switching off, saving approximately 1000 MW of power in that one hour and making the first ever Earth Hour in India a huge success!

However, I have only 1 question...

Why save electricity for one hour when you waste it for the next 364 days....???

You can see streetlights switched on in the day, roadside billboards with 6-7 flood lamps for each billboard, unnecessary wastage of electricity in offices, shops, malls and homes...yet on the last Sunday of March, people overdo it to celebrate Earth Hour ( the concept of Earth hour was that people should switch off unnecessary lights and what most people actually do is that they switch off all lights and sit in the darkness...)

I propose that instead of switching off electricity for 1 hour on 1 day of the year; try to do your bit each day. Switch off unnecessary lights at home or at your office/shop, if your office has 100 lights where it needs 10, write to the HR, switch off your desktop at night and educate the people around you to do the same....

Earlier related blogs : Earth Hour '09

                                 Earth hour in pictures

PS : You can still switch off unnecessary lights from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM on Saturday 27th March and feel satisfied that you are doing your bit.

Earth Hour 2009 - In Pictures

Click on the images to see them fade. (From 2nd image onwards)
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/earth_hour_2009.html

Earth Hour 09

Well, Today the world will shut down all unnecessary lights for an hour in support of the Earth Hour 2009.

A great step, where individuals, societies, and corporates will shut down unnecessary electrical appliances as an expression of their resolve against climate change.

(That's GOOGLE supporting the Earth Hour)

A lot of statistics for the Earth hour 2007 and 2008 show how much electricity would be saved . According to the statics in Times of India published today, during the 2007 event which began in Sydney that year Energy consumption reduced by 10 2% for one hour which has an equivalent of taking 48000 cars off the road for a year. In the 2008 hour which saw participation of more than 400 cities lso reduced consumption by huge amounts.

BUT can we really save the world by switching off lights for one day (actually 1 hour)???

The best example of blatant wastage of electricity that I have seen would definitely be my neighbor's room in the campus (none other than Shree Shree Ankit Govil-for all those who don't know about him can know more about him here ) . He had this real irritating habit of leaving the light and fan and laptop on even during the long hours that he wasn't in his room (for obvious reasons!!!) .We even tripped the electricity to his room in anger, but he didn't change much .The only time his lights were off were when he pretended to sleep and was busy chatting .Sometimes he even left it on when he went off to sleep .Ab isse zyaada kya wastage.

Well that was just an example, but you can see wastage of natural resources everywhere. From the lights on the roads that are lighted all during the day to the wastage at shops and malls etc The justification is same-"We are paying for it why shouldn't we use as much as we want??". I think these people would give the same justification even when there will be no electricity left??

Why do we just switch off electricity only for one hour on only one day of the year...baki 364.25 days ka kya???


Think about it