Earth Hour 2009

The Earth Hour 2009 starts at 8.30 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, 2009. The organisers (www.earthhour.org) want people around the world to switch off the lights at 8.30 p.m. for one hour to show support for action on climate change and reduce carbon emission. It's a very good idea. Will I switch off the lights in my house on March 28? Probably, no? Why? Rather than doing something good for one hour a day in a year, it is much better if we do it every day -- and I want to fall in the second category. We can play our part  in reducing our environment footprint by doing simple acts, such as switching off lights and fan when leaving the room, turning off the computer or/and monitor when not needed, using fan instead of air conditioner, walking instead of driving the car for short distance, etc. I am sure you can find many other ways to conserve energy. 

North American people consume a lot of energy to heat their homes in winter and cool during summer. To conserve energy, the building industry has been bringing out better building materials and the Governments at all levels are promoting the new building technologies. While this will definitely save some energy, but do you know that average size of a north American home has more  than doubled in the last 25 years! If a person can afford a big home he/she would gladly go for it. Sometimes two or three people live in homes as big as 5,000 sq. ft, 10,000 sq.ft. or even bigger. Former Vice President of USA, Al Gore, won the Nobel Peace prize in 2008 for his efforts in bringing the effects of the global warming to the attention of the world through his documentary film -- An Inconvenient Truth. But do you know that he lives in a big 10,000 square-foot mansion and consumes more than 10 times the electricity consumed by an average home in that area. 

Look at the mansion Al Gore's lives in. If USA consumes 25% of world's energy, Al Gore is doing more than his share. In Mumbai, Inda, Mukesh Ambani is making his contribution by building a 173 metres tall tower, equivalent to a 60 storeyed building for a family of six! 

Let us downsize our needs and do our part in saving the earth.