Past Saturday, it was Earth Hour during 0830 to 0930 in the night. Pockets of sanity in Pakistan understood the importance of this event and did not argue. They turned off the lights at the stated times. They did not turn the generators and they waited for the hour to end.
However, Pakistan will never be complete if one does not make a rant; and rant one shall
"WTF? This is PAKISTAN!!! You burger... we have [beep] loud shedding... we spend less energy than countries with a [quarter] of our population... We are 100 years away from celebrating "Earth [Hour]".
This is like a [bleep, again] cancer patient taking a break from his chemotherapy session to take part in a marathon to celebrate World [Health] Day!
Get Real and [please] spread this [message]."
Yup. One of the very original, yet generic Pakistani rants that I have ever heard. This message came for an individual who is supposed to literate and is doing pretty good for himself. His rant-o-rama surely shows that we have ONE big problem; we hate to take initiative. Somehow, we (including myself) just compare notes and see what others are doing and why we should not do it.
Earth Hour is held in order to create awareness. It asks people to turn off lights [mostly non-essential] in order to create awareness about climate change. The idea behind Earth Hour is to look at the world in a different manner. We all know that the current supply of fossil fuels will run out one day, leaving our future generation in darkness. Furthermore, these fossil fuels and industrial affluents are not making nature better. They are killing it. Earth Hour encourages its participants to think how they can make a difference in their lives in order to make things better.
Coming back to the rant, it is quite uncalled for. If you are not doing any good, you rather zip it and if you have something on your mind, please be logical. Indeed, Pakistan is suffering from a energy crisis but that does not serve any excuse for anyone not to participate. Load shedding is the result of chronic circular debt. It is an obligation that one cannot escape. Earth Hour, however, is a choice, and a pretty good one.
During my Earth Hour, I observed how hard it was to have an extra hour of no electricity. Usually, my area gets a power-cut at 0730pm. Likewise, we turn on the generator but at 0830, I turned off the generator and survived the Earth Hour. It made me think about this whole event in its totality. It made me realize it must have been hard for kids that study for exams when they get a electricity break-down for no reason during the night. It reminded that I should look towards saving electricity and only use the much I need. It reminded me that I need to restart my search for sustainable solutions that I was finding. It reminded me that whenever I start a business, I would keep my carbon footprint low.
Not only that but Earth Hour was important for a nation like Pakistan. We have a country which requires a good amount of soul-searching when it comes to priorities. We are sitting between the two of the world fastest growing economies; the friendly China and the frenemy India. Both countries are full speed ahead with their industries. Certainly, the carbon emission from these countries would effect our climate. A change in the climate would effect everything from our growth to our lifestyles. We need to create a consensus among neighboring countries to restrict the carbon emissions to a safe level.
Furthermore, the recent earthquake in Japan showed how dangerous nuclear power is. Pakistan is a country which lies almost on a fault-line just like Japan. Currently, we have two nuclear plants working and many more are underway. Japanese are known for being well-prepared; they have more or less the capability to avert a nuclear danger but our country is different, yet gifted with sunlight. Setting up a nuclear power plant is expensive but the same money could be used to place a solar power plant. A solar power plant in different areas of the country would give a cleaner and better tomorrow.
Indeed, if we look at Earth Hour, it is like any other hour but it would be great if just for a change, we think about climate change. I am proud that my city Karachi took an active part in this activity and I hope we will able to make smarter, greener choice all year round.
However, Pakistan will never be complete if one does not make a rant; and rant one shall
"WTF? This is PAKISTAN!!! You burger... we have [beep] loud shedding... we spend less energy than countries with a [quarter] of our population... We are 100 years away from celebrating "Earth [Hour]".
This is like a [bleep, again] cancer patient taking a break from his chemotherapy session to take part in a marathon to celebrate World [Health] Day!
Get Real and [please] spread this [message]."
Yup. One of the very original, yet generic Pakistani rants that I have ever heard. This message came for an individual who is supposed to literate and is doing pretty good for himself. His rant-o-rama surely shows that we have ONE big problem; we hate to take initiative. Somehow, we (including myself) just compare notes and see what others are doing and why we should not do it.
Earth Hour is held in order to create awareness. It asks people to turn off lights [mostly non-essential] in order to create awareness about climate change. The idea behind Earth Hour is to look at the world in a different manner. We all know that the current supply of fossil fuels will run out one day, leaving our future generation in darkness. Furthermore, these fossil fuels and industrial affluents are not making nature better. They are killing it. Earth Hour encourages its participants to think how they can make a difference in their lives in order to make things better.
Coming back to the rant, it is quite uncalled for. If you are not doing any good, you rather zip it and if you have something on your mind, please be logical. Indeed, Pakistan is suffering from a energy crisis but that does not serve any excuse for anyone not to participate. Load shedding is the result of chronic circular debt. It is an obligation that one cannot escape. Earth Hour, however, is a choice, and a pretty good one.
During my Earth Hour, I observed how hard it was to have an extra hour of no electricity. Usually, my area gets a power-cut at 0730pm. Likewise, we turn on the generator but at 0830, I turned off the generator and survived the Earth Hour. It made me think about this whole event in its totality. It made me realize it must have been hard for kids that study for exams when they get a electricity break-down for no reason during the night. It reminded that I should look towards saving electricity and only use the much I need. It reminded me that I need to restart my search for sustainable solutions that I was finding. It reminded me that whenever I start a business, I would keep my carbon footprint low.
Not only that but Earth Hour was important for a nation like Pakistan. We have a country which requires a good amount of soul-searching when it comes to priorities. We are sitting between the two of the world fastest growing economies; the friendly China and the frenemy India. Both countries are full speed ahead with their industries. Certainly, the carbon emission from these countries would effect our climate. A change in the climate would effect everything from our growth to our lifestyles. We need to create a consensus among neighboring countries to restrict the carbon emissions to a safe level.
Furthermore, the recent earthquake in Japan showed how dangerous nuclear power is. Pakistan is a country which lies almost on a fault-line just like Japan. Currently, we have two nuclear plants working and many more are underway. Japanese are known for being well-prepared; they have more or less the capability to avert a nuclear danger but our country is different, yet gifted with sunlight. Setting up a nuclear power plant is expensive but the same money could be used to place a solar power plant. A solar power plant in different areas of the country would give a cleaner and better tomorrow.
Indeed, if we look at Earth Hour, it is like any other hour but it would be great if just for a change, we think about climate change. I am proud that my city Karachi took an active part in this activity and I hope we will able to make smarter, greener choice all year round.
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