Has Earth Hour failed?

It was very interesting to read various feedbacks from friends through FB and to actually observe how the KLians and Bangi folks observe Earth Hour yesterday. Personally, I did not turn off the lights for the one hour required. Reason being, I totally against it. As selfish as it sounds, Earth Hour in Malaysia was being tooooooooo over rated and I felt that it was only a publicity stunt.

Honestly, I'm of the opinion that Earth Hour last night has failed. Yes, they turn off the lights but the decided to drive out (hence omitting more CO2) and pollute the environment. (Note: it woud be very interesting to study the level of CO2 ommission during the Earth Hour). The vendors taking the opportunity to cash in during this event also didn't take the necessary steps to support the original cause of Earth Hour. Plastic bags and containers were everywhere and people were littering to no ends. Various concerts were held to celebrate Earth Hour (which would only mean the usage of electricity). After the hour has lapsed, people turn around and continue with their non-environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Come on people, putting out the lights for one hour would not change the level of global warming. How many of us still drive around instead of taking the public transport or car pool? I myself drive everywhere because it's convinience. However, I make up from other things in my life. I've totally stop taking plastic bags when I shop. I carry green bag everyway I go. And from today onwards, I vouched to use recycle plastic containers when taking away food (actually, I've been doing this on-off, depending whether I remember to bring my own container or not).

How many of us uses normal bulb instead of an energy saving bulb (the fact that they are still selling the normal bulbs is saying something isn't it)? How many of us still receive our credit card statements in the mail instead of opting to receive them via the net? How many of us still read the physical newspaper instead of reading it on the net? How many of us still print photos instead of keeping electronic versions of them? How many of us still do not recycle all things recyclecable (especially paper, I still see people throw them in the bin). How many of us still throw plastic containers and cans into the bin instead of sending them to the recycling centre? How many of us use recycle items eg recycle paper to write? (I don't blame you guys, recycle papers are more expensive and harder to come by!)

I can go on and on... But what I'm trying to say is that, if you did turn off the lights last night to honour Mother Earth, then I pray that you've change your lifestyle to a more environmentally friend one. Only by changing our lifestyle and attitudes would we be helping in reducing global warming and making Earth a cleaner and better place to live in.

Remember the 3Rs... Recycle, Reduce and Reuse...