Earthen Hour

Did you guys participate in the latest Earth Hour yesterday?

I didn't.

I forgot about the hyped Earth Hour, when it was supposed to be celebrated. Then again, even if I remembered, I couldn't be arsed to join. Spending 60 minutes in total darkness is not my way of celebrating Earth. What do I do in the dark? Sit there idly while counting how many mosquitoes will bite me? No sir. I have better things to do, such as studying for my exam on Monday. Besides, I think I've done more than enough of my part in Earth Hour during the latest 3-4 hours power breakdown in Jalan Kaliurang. I think I emitted less carbon footprint sitting in my room than taking a ride around Jogja on my trusted Ken-chan.

One hour of total darkness isn't going to change much, you know. It's more of what you can do on a daily basis that will help the earth. You think that by participating in Earth Hour will make you feel good enough about yourself for wasting electricity for one whole year? Think again.

This is what you can do if you truly care about the earth:

1. Switch off your lights if you're not using it. If your room is bright enough during the day, then please, switch the light off. Having an electrical light on a bright, naturally lit room isn't going to make the room brighter.
   
2. If you can live without the air conditioner, please minimize the usage. Not only it will emit a lot of carbon footprint, using a/c for a long time will put a significant dent on your pocket.
   
3. Forget the recycling bullshit. Recycling is not power efficient nor earth efficient. What you can do is try to reuse everything. Minimize your trash. You have an unwanted bag? Use that bag for your grocery shopping. You don't have to buy specialized bag like what's being promoted in major supermarkets. Feeling bad because you use too many paper? Well, don't burn it. Sell it to the old newspaper collectors XD. Still feel bad about wasting paper? PLANT A TREE, NAO! Not only you'll reduce the carbon dioxide emission in your house, you'll be rewarded by the pleasant sight of greenery outside your home :D
   
4. Using energy efficient light bulbs helps a ton. You'll get the same illumination with almost half the cost. Isn't that sweet? XD Tho, I admit, that the bulb itself is expensive. It will be cheap in the long run! So don't be kedekut because you want to save a few ringgits initially! D:<
   
5. If you can shower without the hot water, please do. But then, I don't think this is a problem for Malaysians. Our country is freaking hot that the only time we use hot water is during the friggin early morning shower and that late night before sleep shower. I have yet to see a house in Malaysia that is fully equipped with hot water even the kitchen sink have hot water. Well, maybe there are… hmm…
   
6. I don't want to talk about this last one. Seriously. Because I hardly do it. I read somewhere that you should unplugged your electronics even after you've switched them off. I honestly will admit, I am guilty of not unplugging my lappy. The most I did was shutting it down. That's it. And most of the time, I just hibernate my laptop. Guilty as charged. You can save a lot from your electric bills just from shutting/hibernate (cause when you hibernate, you can unplug it :D) AND unplugging the electronics (like phone charger, lappie charger, PC power outlet etc etc).
   

I think we geeks should highlight point six. After spending 15 hours on ps2/xbox 360/wii/ ps3, we should UNPLUGGED the console. And computers shouldn't be left running 24/7. At least switch them off and UNPLUG it one hour a day. Phone/ipod/mp3/camera chargers shouldn't be left on power sockets. Done charging, unplug it. Dangling wires are not attractive either. I think if I actually did number 6 thru and thru, I can cut down our house bill by a fraction. Which is good \o/

Let's hope that I will actually do what I wrote here. Not just a one time ranting XD