One Month after Earth Hour 2009

On 28 March 2009, millions of people switched off their lights for one hour to make a stand against climate change.

Yesterday was one month since Earth Hour 2009. But has the momentous event achieved it's objectives?

Let me share with you the changes that took place in my company before and after the event.

A few days before Earth Hour 2009, an e-memo from the Chief Operating Officer was sent out to all staff informing that the company will be taking part in Earth Hour 2009. The e-memo reminded staff to switch off all lights and electrical appliances before leaving the office on Friday (Earth Hour was on a Saturday night).

On Monday morning, the building manager came to my department and spoke to my boss. Apparently my department has been identified as one of the departments whose lights was left switched on throughout the weekend. OMG !!!

I know who the culprit is, but I can't say ;-)

After investigating, the building management has now labelled all the switches on my floor and now they're able to detect who is the last person to leave the office and so on.

A couple of days ago, an e-memo was sent to all staff about conserving energy and to switch off all lights and electrical appliance when not in use.

Now there's a conscience effort to switch off lights in any unoccupied room. After 7.00pm they also switch off lights leading to the washroom. So most of the time I'll be groping in the dark and relying on light emitting from the 'Keluar' (Exit) sign to guide my way back from the washroom.

If Earth Hour never happened, my company would never have taken these efforts to inculcate a habit of conserving energy. And the lights in my department would be left switched on every weekend.

I think the efforts of WWF to promote Earth Hour are beginning to bear fruits. People are beginning to realise the importance of conserving energy and saving the environment.