Sunday, March 28, 2010

Earth Hour?



Earth Hour, the WWF initiative is indeed laudable and innovative. However I dont know how many of us switched off the lights of our houses. In my case, well I had no choice, the Jhk State Electricity Board celebrates unnumerable earth hours in our state. So we do our bit everyday voluntarily or involuntarily. Interestingly, in Jharkhand you dont need to blame on anything for forced "earth hours" we have a special custom here unheard of in any other state! On festivals like Ram Navmi and Sarhul (tribal festival) we all are prepared for half a day long power cut which runs late in to the night. The reason? There are massive processions on the streets and such is the religious fervour that people dance and (are perhaps drunk) on the streets for hours not caring about live wires on their heads. Hence the electricity board snaps power for safety! Such is the uniqueness of Jharkhand!



Coming back to this Earth Hour. Seemed like a very glamourous event with Junior AB as the Brand Ambassador. Though the objective is deeply appreciated but I doubt whether it actually served the purpose. Why I am saying this is because I caught a glimpse of the "earth hour celebrations' in New Delhi. Please forgive me but I think it was simply hilarious! The India Gate lights had been turned off and in front of it there was Indian Ocean performing which meant lots of electricity being spent on sounds, lights and mikes. While 100s of people were enjoying the band it seemed ridiculous to blacken the pride of India and celebrate in front of it spending the same amount of energy! I really wish I could do the exact plus minus calculations!

3 comments:

Kanupriya said...

Nice post and well written. Though I did my bit that day but then, even I wonder on the effectiveness of such initiatives. For that Indian Ocean performance, read it somewhere that they had managed to do it with lesser power consuming sound systems etc.

BK Chowla, said...

I am not sure what effect such initiative can make but any effort is worth its while.
Mt question is --did our well protected 543 MPs did switch off their lights?

Prerana Tripathi (Pandey) said...

Very much correct Tanvi. Even I cannot corelate these DAYS (Earth, Water,Environment etc etc) with the actual goal.
Shifting towards Renewable resources cud surely help. But not the mere research in that field,but the implementation is required.