Earth Hour Malaysia

This coming Saturday, 28th of March will be a symbolic event for Malaysia as citizens unite to show their stance on climate change. Known as Earth Hour, this year will mark Malaysia's first time participating (however, I'm sure there were a few who did took part since 2007). Earth Hour is an event that was first brought up in Sydney, Australia back in 2007 that was organized by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald. This led to the participation of 2.2 million residents and business to raise the awareness on the urgency of actions on the issue of climate change. By 2008, the Earth Hour event became an international event with the involvement of other countries like United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Thailand and the Philippines. In 2009, this event is now known as a global election event where all one person need to do is switch off their light for one hour from 8:30PM to 9:30PM.

However, there are the skeptics who have criticized on the Earth Hour. It all breaks down to the question of effectiveness, is Earth Hour a benefiting event that can achieve change in attitude and habit toward climate change? Going back, all a person just need to do is to switch off the light to show that the person is aware about climate change; this doesn't mean that she/he would take measures to reduce their dependency on resources (i.e. use less electricity, less water, go carpooling, open windows instead of switching the fan or air-condition on, etc). Some have gone to the extent of labeling Earth Hour as a slacktivism, a movement that utilize minimum efforts to show support for an issue and resulting in minimal impact or result (e.g. signing in a pledge form, wearing an accessories or clothing to state the support of the issue). Another argument is the fact how much of the energy is being conserved from the event. Critics argued that at the time of Earth Hour, the power conserved does not make any influence on the release of carbons into the atmostphere.

Criticisms aside, WWF have replied stating that the objective of having Earth Hour is to create awareness and to create a stand on climate change. Realistically, you don't expect a person to automatically be conservative toward their use of resources in an instant. Like anything, it takes time, and with proper methods, this can be achieved. For more info, head to Earth Hour Malaysia, and enjoy the video clip below.