I only came to know about "Earth Hour" today. At the strike of 8.30 pm on Saturday night, everybody switches off the lights and other power supply in the house, the office and in the entertainment spots. Some suggestions, I thought was interesting. Sleep naked, because the airconditioning is off. Time to sneak off the restaurant without paying. Give someone a smooch, cause you won’t be reognised.
If you know what is Earth Hour, share here what you will be doing?
Terence Seah
I registered & took part in Earth Hour 2008 …switched off all lights at home for 1hr with onli candles…pretty romantic I would say. For that 1hr I had myself to me, for self reflection and not to the TV. However I was a little disappointed that not much people in Singapore were interested or aware of it last year. I supposed its the mindset. A relative told me it would be torture to live without lights for 1hr…Haiz!
This year, the WWF played a more active role and has encouraged Corporations, Schools etc to take part. I am glad my company is supporting this event this year and is doing its part to off all lights in the office this Saturday. Likewise it will be lights off at home for me and I have warned my hubby not to touch any light switches :-)
I know that saving Earth is not a matter of 1hr per country…its a lifetime effort and not just simply by switching off lights. I have cut down my usuage of plastic bags tremendously to only 1 or 2 per week for throwing my rubbish. I have a “green” bag which I bring along in case I have some shopping and I dun use the plastic cutlery & disposal chopsticks at hawker centres. I also use recycle paper as notepads…the list goes on.
I am not perfect as there are times when I couldn’t be green on certain things which are beyond my control but I am just doing my little part towards saving GAIA.
Just me,
Genet
Terence
Earth hour is living hell in darkness in one hour.
Why invented power and force just to coerce everyone to live an hour in living darkness. Darkness brings evil leh!
Imagine, as you said ‘sleep naked without the air-cond.’, and having intimacy but cannot see the beauty of the act in darkness. Very the “chia luck leh”. Maybe the best time to admire each other’s sparkling white teeth in the dark. Ha! I use colgate you know.
Hi Terence,
Notwithstanding the occasional bits of silliness, earth hour is a lot of symbolic fun too! At this particular ‘earth hour’ @ 8.30pm, it would be great to have a fondue dinner with your loved one, a candlelight glowing in the dark, with you staring straight into the eyes of your partner sitting opposite you. Coupled with sweet dialogue & a glass of fine wine, gazing at the stars (if any), would undoubtedly enhance a most romantic ambience, as you dine, with every min & sec. of well spent quality time clocking by! There’s no need to spend on a lavish meal at restaurants when you can opt to do it at home. What is worth doing at all is worth doing well~give it a try if you’ve not done so!
PatLee ~ you sure have a good sense of humour. In order to display your set of white teeth, you too need to inform your partner that the brand of toothpaste you’re using is actually Colgate-Sensitive….ha!
Cheerio!
When light goes out, we have seen the last of handsome Seah Kim Seng. When ligh returns, we’ll see a pretty Seah Kim Kim, eyes carrying a green beam which frightens you so much that yr mouth scream dropping the ice cream but with limbs all limp, you wished it’s all a dream and it’s still that good wimp not Ms Seah Kim Kim………………
So even though it may save you thousands and from the knife & the drill, no, I still think the price of scaring yr folks is too high……………..
Aiyoh Sue Chan,
I wish my wife can be that romantic to go to that extent on a candlelight dinner, staring into each others eyes. You forgot the background music of “I will love you eternally”.
I will never dream of that, I tell you why : “Staring in the eyes”, dangerous liason. With old age-eyes, you see nothing. So romance is out, Instead, she may start a fight with me: “See what, never see before har! staring at me, want to fight is it.” See, what I mean by old love in a darkest nite,
And when we adjourned into the darkness of the bedroom, we will fight over whose teeth’s are more sparkling. So Earth Hour scares me to Death quicker lah!
Pat Lee #2, admire what white teeth lah. I thought your dentures are in the bathroom. Haha! Just joking!
Hi Genet & Terence,
I celebrated Earth Hours 2008 by switching off the lights for an hour. My grandson was so excited as he lighted the candles and played board games during that hour. We are going to switch off the lights this Saturday and gather outside the house with neighbours to see the stars. It is 2nd day of the lunar, new moon, quiet, calm, magical.
Like Genet, I support recycling and try to make my house more self-sustainable. We bring egg cartons to the egg farms for recycling and we use green shopping bags. Fruit skins, egg shells, veggie cuttings, fish bones, etc are recycled as fertilisers for garden. The kitchen and lounge areas are brightly lit by sky-lights from the sun. I am installing a small scale energy system to generate electricity for our home, any surplus energy will be sold to energy supplier. During winter, rain water is collected for the garden and we try to minimise heater usage by wearing warmer clothes.
Hi all,
The area around the esplanade and all surrounding buildings will have their lights turn off during the Earth hour. They will be music too to complement the quiet starry starry night so it will be something to witness this occasion.
Check the papers for more news on this event. Cheers
I ask myself, what’s this maddening coming to?
All lights off for an hour at nite………an invitation to scoundrels to party and a licence to the commission of crimes?
How much can you save in eletricity bills, how much can it do towards a greener earth?
Will ths supporter of this earth saving event switch off all traffic lights, street lamps?
Shut the world’s indutries for an hour makes more sense but who in this world of nations matching prosperity will dare suggest, let alone take the lead?
Will anyone go back a million years to rub stones for fire and do away with fossil fuel? Will anyone swing from tree to tree isntead of taking the bus?
It’s all humbug, bullshit…………
When the lights go off, we swear and curse under our breath. Out comes the torchlight, candles and mosquito coil. In my younger days, it was Earth Day in JB, at least once a month!
I dislike that. In the beginning, we use to bump into each other and into the furniture as well. But with frequent electricity cut, we become good at maneuvering in the darkness, as our pupils dilate. So, what do we do now? We sit down and chat. I suddenly discover many things about my siblings which I did not know. We had been too busy to catch up with each other!
With no fan nor air-conditioning the air becomes stifling. We move upstairs and try to make ourselves comfortable on the balcony. The whole neighbourhood is in darkness. This is the best time to be telling ghost stories. And if you have not prepared for your Econs paper for tomorrow, you’ve had it! Cos you don’t know how long this darkness will last.
After we have run out of things to talk about, we all pack into the car and go for a drive to make time fly. As we are driving out of our estate, the whole neighbourhood becomes bright. Electricity has been restored!
Even without earth hour, the lights in my house are switched on only when necessary.
Easy to get message across…..just raise the electricity rate, Singapore style.
I, too had signed up and registered to be a participant of earth day. To me it is not about saving electricity for that one hour but about awareness and the need for every single one of us to put in our own little effort, however puny to make sure we do not deplete the ozone layer. at least my interpretation of this issue.
Yes Sue, what a lovely way to spend that hour stretched into a lovely evening but as I have been invited, together with a few others, to dine at a gracious lady’s home, I shall certainly request that the lights be switched off at 8.30pm and we can have our session in candlelight. That way, not only me, but the whole group of us there will, unwittingly be participants of this day.
Hi Charles n Lina,
…Even without earth hour, the lights in my house are switched on only when necessary. I truly agreed with you.
Some of the shopping malls/national libraries like the Esplanade,Toa Payoh,Bishan or Jurong East to name a few in Spore are damn cold.
Even on a rainy day,they just switch it on full blast and this is sheer wastage of energy.Surely,the management can adjust the temp to suit the weather conditions.
Hi Lina,
…In my younger days, it was Earth Day in JB, at least once a month! The same happens in K.L. When the lights go off, we swear and curse Alamak ROSAK again. Total darkness,no TV / no air cond / computer file not saved went kaput/ better go to sleep and wait for electricity to be restored the next morning.
Electricity has been restored! Hurray!
Hi Tim at 9,
I truly agreed with your comment.
When mankind oversteps the boundaries of nature with all the modern day inventions, it is a price to pay for technology advancements. Pointless, all the cowshits about switching of the lights and conserve energy.
The prehistoric times of our forebears was a natural world
of nature and beauty. The present man-made world is all hell on earth. Great social decadence. What the hell can an hour of Earth Hour do, when the world is killing each other with all the modern arsenal of destruction, using enormous energy and resources of the earth. The launching of a missile rocket imminently, is the case in point of great energy consumption of earth’s resources by N. korea and the people are suffering in hunger.
It is a hypocritical and farcical world of misfits. Hence, I do not support Earth Hour. We are crying over our spilled milk.
leepatrick
Interesting Singaporean are always good consumers and even perpetrators of “western products and programs”.
Even in the “shell” or disguise of NGO, oftentime their strategy or secret agenda is always the same; ‘Let’s teach the world (non-western countries) how to do things our way’.
Only when we do things their way, “protect their rights” then are we saving our earth, our habitat, our environment, our resources, our animals, shark fins, etc. otherwise we will be guilty and sinful of abusing them. Other countries can’t seem to have their own rules, culture and practises.
Think of it this way, whenever the west develop a game, program, product, they always determine the rules of the game on how you should play the game. And these rules always benefit the inventor and not the players! If you can’t pay the inventor, you can’t play the game and not apart of it.
Hi Feztus,
…Only when we do things their way, “protect their rights” then are we saving our earth, our habitat, our environment, our resources, our animals, SHARK FINS, etc. otherwise we will be guilty and sinful of abusing them.
Complain that the Japanese fishermen cut out the shark fins and just dump them into the sea. Whether they survive or not is not their problem is a form of animal abuse.
I think the animal rights grp is setting double standards,
What about the CRUEL matador bull fights in Spain weekly for local and tourist to enjoy , isn’t it a form of animal abuse too? And the strange thing is,the Western animal rights group doesn’t seem to acknowledge citing that this is their traditional form of entertainment and can be tolerated.
Surely,an old tradition can be changed if they want to instead of causing so much harm,injury and death to the INNOCENT bulls.
I don’t think Earth hour can really help v. much for 1 hr of darkness. What they really need is a long term conservation plan by ALL nations to save energy esp.the heavy industries which are HUGE guzzlers of energy.
Any comment pls.
Aha! Lina my set of sparkling teeth are for real
not dentures. That shows how unromantic I am. Hardly
kiss,(preserved my teeth) never give flowers, no sweet nothings, and definitely no dark nites. A square man.
When I do perform, the light shines bright and clear.
Never heard of Earth Hour. Anyhow, the job is done in
15 mins. So why you need one hour for the lights to switch off.
Like Feztus said don’t fall into the western trap. Western societies are so promiscuous, one hour of darkness, hell will break lose for the innocent innocent ladies of virtue.
My tall handsome Steven,
#16 Since you invite comments.
I am trying to figure out a link between matador and bull fighting in Spain in relation to Earth Hour.
My take is, you are trying to tell us the bullfight will be performed in pitch darkness during Earth Hour.
And torchlight will be not allowed also.
This time the matador will be a female with a bull in the ring. The performance will be in total darkness with only sensurround sound reproduction. Enjoy the show with bull energy and save the Earth! RED BULL !! hahaha. Am I advertising Red Bull ?
Yesterday, our organisation also participated in Earth Hour at noon here in Taiwan by switching off the lights. So timely for a siesta!
I will be turning off the lights for an hour at 8.30 pm this evening and use tea lights instead. I’m sure after that one hour, I would appreciate Thomas Edison and his GE light bulbs!
I believe Earth Hour is meant to bring an awareness of the climate change and its impact on Mother Earth. Like Genet said, save the Earth.
Actually, I am very impressed by the Taiwanese’ attitude towards recycling. Everyone participated in one way or another. Along the street, it is difficult to find a garbabge bin. People are encouraged to recycle instead of throwing things away. At the eateries (??), it is common to see people bring their own chopsticks. And if you order take-away, no plastic spoon is given. When shopping for grocery or at convenience store like Watson’s, I would have to bring a bag. Otherwise, I would be charged for their plastic bags.
I hope to see Spore adopt such practices. Hope the Earth Hour will switch on Sporeans’ mindset towards recycling.
It is true that the importance of Earth Hour is its symbolic meaning. But that meaning is the opposite of the one intended. The lights of our cities and monuments are a symbol of human achievement, of what mankind has accomplished in rising from the cave to the skyscraper. Earth Hour presents the disturbing spectacle of people celebrating those lights being extinguished. Its call for people to renounce energy and to rejoice at darkened skyscrapers makes its real meaning unmistakably clear: Earth Hour symbolizes the renunciation of industrial civilization.
Participants spend an enjoyable sixty minutes in the dark, safe in the knowledge that the life-saving benefits of industrial civilization are just a light switch away. This bears no relation whatsoever to what life would actually be like under the sort of draconian carbon-reduction policies that climate activists are demanding: punishing carbon taxes, severe emissions caps, outright bans on the construction of power plants.
Forget one measly hour with just the lights off. How about Earth Month, without any form of fossil fuel energy? Try spending a month shivering in the dark without heating, electricity, refrigeration; without power plants or generators; without any of the labor-saving, time-saving, and therefore life-saving products that industrial energy makes possible.
Those who claim that we must cut off our carbon emissions to prevent an alleged global catastrophe need to learn the indisputable fact that cutting off our carbon emissions would be a global catastrophe. What we really need is greater awareness of just how indispensable carbon-based energy is to human life (including, of course, to our ability to cope with any changes in the climate).
Hi Guys,
After reading all the technical details about shark fins, plastic bag, and bull fight, I have to do my bit for earth hour. So I went to switch off the light to the toilet. Then there was some screaming. Know why? She (my wife) was in the toilet. Not a good idea to switch off the light.