Bulan Observer congratulates the LGU- Bulan under the leadership of Mayor Helen De Castro for joining this year’s Earth Hour campaign! Your post have been read throughout the world and is now one of the most viewed posts.
It’s a good sign of solidarity and of an ever increasing global consciousness of Bulan community to join this Earth Hour event. One hour without carbon emission, electronic smog or electric consumption for millions of people around the globe- and also one hour of lesser noise pollution when many motors and machines are switched off . It is said that the United Nations building will participate this year for the first time and for an hour it “will save 102 dollars”. Not a big deal really but with all the other millions of buildings participating this year, it would be a saving in billions of dollars for an hour.
But the main thing in this Earth Hour is not saving the dollars but saving our environment- and life on Earth. Many critics of this event claim that it is “too late for such a campaign to have a meaningful impact”. Another critic Andrew Bolt opined that the total savings in Sydney, Australia for instance during the 2007 Earth Hour event was “A cut so tiny is trivial – equal to taking six cars off the road for a year”.
I think these critics have missed a very important aspect that is at the root of this Earth Hour campaign and that is the development of consciousness in each individual of environmental protection in general and of a wise and economical use of electricity in particular. Here is the long range effect of this one hour campaign: it could change the attitude of millions of individuals for a lifetime, that when they go home after this event, they would for instance switch on one instead of three or more light bulbs in their houses, would switch off TVs, stereos, computers. etc., that have always been left on a standby mode for years. It is said that in Switzerland, if people would not let their electronic gadgets on standby mode for a year, it would lead to the closing of one of their nuclear reactors. A big deal of saving and environmental relief.
So it’s not really late to repair the damage if each individual would combine all the strategies he or she has learned in conserving the environment like using the car less, using energy-saving light bulbs and avoiding standby modes, segregating household wastes, avoiding chemicals and synthetic materials, not dumping your wastes in the nearby river or sea, planting trees, etc. There are many ways an individual can do to help conserve the ecosystem and contribute to a better quality of life for all humans, animals and plants, cleaner air, soils, rivers and seas. In short, a happy planet Earth.
So why not give it a try, it’s never too late, join the Earth Hour today and be a responsible Bulan and Earth citizen for a lifetime.
jun asuncion
Bulan Observer
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Bulan Observer 