Last Saturday was Earth Hour. You know, the day where everyone around the world switches off the lights for 1 hour and then say, “Yes, I’m showing my support to save the Earth.”
Yep. That thing. Well, the whole thing originally started in 2007 in Sydney and is organised by the World Wildlife Fund. Since then, lots of other cities around the world have adopted the event in 2008.
Earth Hour 2010's favourite pictures on Flickr
Personally, I think it seems like a pretty good idea. We’re only just switching the lights and all the other stuff off for one hour. We sit around in the dark for fun, taking part in this global event. We pledge our support for Earth Hour. And when it’s all over, we get back to our lives with just one flick of a switch without thinking about it until the next event happens.
But how many people actually continue with their pledges to save the Earth when the event is over?
Truth? Not a lot.
Most of the people whom I know don’t really care about things like these. In fact, I have one friend who’s so jaded about this whole event. He sees environmental activists and thinks that they should care more about human rights than the Earth. And he even said this to me recently: “If we can’t even protect ourselves, how can we protect the Earth?”
There is some truth in what he says. After all, there’s all sorts of horrible things happening around the world. Things like rapes, wars, fights, and crimes. It’s horrible.
So well, I guess what I’m really trying to say is that while Earth Hour is a great way to show our support, there is more that can be done to save the Earth. This... is just the first step.
To actually make a difference, we have to go beyond just switching off the lights for one hour once a year. We have to do the little things like remembering to switch off the lights in the room if we’re not in it, and switching on the fan instead of the air conditioning.
It’s the little things that count.
So what are you doing to help save the Earth?