Earth Hour Thailand

[bkkjames]

Many of you may know that this much hyped Earth Hour event came and went on Saturday evening.

Not one to fall for the hype, but the Mrs and I thought we would do our part so switched off all the lights at the designated time.

About half way into the 'earth' hour, I ventured outside to see the light (or lack there of). Needless to say, the whole neighborhood was lit up as usual - street lights, thai and farang houses and condos.

So I switched on the TV and tried to find something on the Thai channels regarding this - thinking I got the date mixed up or something, but one channel True 9 I think was showing some event being held in the city.

I can remember my staff over the last few weeks promoting this event in their email signatures / even posters around the building but what for I am asking?

If I recall the BMA said they would shut of street lights during 'the hour' but i didnt notice a change. Seems to me they wasted more energy making posters and t-shirts and all things trendy to promote this event but forgot one thing...shutting off the lights on a Saturday night is not convenient.

If they were really serious about saving energy, why not promote turning off the aircon and lights (not power) in buildings / shopping malls for an hour during the week at lunchtime?

Like that big concert held at cities around the world couple years back and broadast live to billions of people, these types of initiatives do not ring home and in my opinion waste more energy in the promotion / production of them.

I guess being gr$$n is trendy.

[yabaaaa]

"I can remember my staff over the last few weeks promoting this event in their email signatures / even posters around the building but what for I am asking?"

Most people seem to send endless tat e mails like this throughout the world, Thais seem to specialise in it, everyday I get some lovesick poems, decpitated person, vile accident, deformed baby/person, or some sex scene.

[PhilHarries]

If they were really serious about saving energy, why not promote turning off the aircon and lights (not power) in buildings / shopping malls for an hour during the week at lunchtime?

If every business, every shopping mall, every cinema turned the a/c thermostat up 5 degrees most people wouldn't notice and they'd do far more good that this publicity stunt ever would. It's a good thing to bring these issues to people's attention but a wasted effort if those people do not change their way of life. How many people sit at home with all the lights on even in rooms that are unoccupied?

[sanook2me]

For me Living in the dark is more fun than being enlightened by politicians, world climate or environmental experts !

Long may my blissful ignorance reign

[hanno]

I agree that no energy was probably saved overall, but I do think that raising awareness, especially in this part of the world, can never be a bad thing.

I live in Vietnam where much is talked about the environment, but nothing is done. I do believe that I can do my small part by initiating things like clean-up campaigns, energy-saving measures, etc. If just one of my family or staff starts thinking about the environment because of actions like that, then I feel I have won.

[thithi]

i did not do the thing.... I was out that time.

the thing i knew that no any energy was saved but to decrease using it.

Honestly how can you keep the TV off that time the soapy on the tunes! - mum said

[bkkjames]

i did not do the thing.... I was out that time.

the thing i knew that no any energy was saved but to decrease using it.

Honestly how can you keep the TV off that time the soapy on the tunes! - mum said

There you have it folks - a future leader has spoken.

[tuky]

I turned my lights off at 2030 as stipulated.

Then I realised that I would normally have had them off anyway, so I actually wasted power by leaving them on so I can turn them off at the required time...

go figure...

[KarenOh]

Many of you may know that this much hyped Earth Hour event came and went on Saturday evening.

Not one to fall for the hype, but the Mrs and I thought we would do our part so switched off all the lights at the designated time.

About half way into the 'earth' hour, I ventured outside to see the light (or lack there of). Needless to say, the whole neighborhood was lit up as usual - street lights, thai and farang houses and condos.

So I switched on the TV and tried to find something on the Thai channels regarding this - thinking I got the date mixed up or something, but one channel True 9 I think was showing some event being held in the city.

I can remember my staff over the last few weeks promoting this event in their email signatures / even posters around the building but what for I am asking?

If I recall the BMA said they would shut of street lights during 'the hour' but i didnt notice a change. Seems to me they wasted more energy making posters and t-shirts and all things trendy to promote this event but forgot one thing...shutting off the lights on a Saturday night is not convenient.

If they were really serious about saving energy, why not promote turning off the aircon and lights (not power) in buildings / shopping malls for an hour during the week at lunchtime?

Like that big concert held at cities around the world couple years back and broadast live to billions of people, these types of initiatives do not ring home and in my opinion waste more energy in the promotion / production of them.

I guess being gr$$n is trendy.

One could say Bangkok is all image, no result. I say that Bangkok has good intentions, but when the moment of truth arrives, people miss the boat. The BTS/MRT could have been a great system to vastly improve public transportation, decrease traffic congestion, and lower Bangkok's carbon emissions/contribution to global warming. Instead, it's just a train that stretches over a pretty small area. If you have to travel a distance to get to the BTS, there's nowhere to park your car, motorbike, bicycle. (People at On Nut tried doing that at the Tesco and Tesco responded with a time limit and major price hike). The expansion of the BTS into other areas (Suvarnabhumi, etc.) should help solve some of these issues and environmentally speaking Bangkok has made a lot of progress. Much of that progress came from the simple transition between little-to-no legislation/enforcement to now greater awareness and enforcement, but with the right measures I could see Bangkok becoming one of the world's greenest metropolitan cities considering carbon emission per capita. However, in terms of environmental awareness and an attitude of social environmental activism, I do not see Bangkok up there in the rankings anytime soon.

[Jungian]

Now they are saying global warming is much worse than we thought and irreversible. I saw scientists talking on a talk show the other day from the USA and they said they were wrong about global warming, it is much worse than they ever thought and within 20 years the polar caps will indeed be gone as well as a glacier (I don't recall which one the mentioned) that supplies water for more than a billion people from Mongolia to regions in China. So, switching the lights off for an hour in Thailand isn't going to do squat. In all honesty I use a lot less energy in Thailand perhaps 90% less than I ever did in the USA. I had a 6 bedroom home that I heated and cooled in the summer with central air as opposed to the single independent room air conditioners I use here, I commuted 120 miles to and from work daily in the USA now I only drive about 15 miles round trip a day I also drove a 745IL in the USA I drive a 325I here big difference in fuel consumption, I use all fluorescent lighting in my home here whereas I had all incandescent lighting in the USA. In general my life here is much more environmentally friendly with the exception of all the Styrofoam containers and plastic bags everyone seems hel_l bent on using. I'm going to give the stop smoking thing a go next week for the 30th plus time other than for the obvious health reasons I think tobacco farms at this point may be need to grow food and I want to be part of the solution not part of the problem.

Here is a fun quiz to take to see how green you are: http://www.myfootprint.org

[robbiecia]

There is way too much indifference here with regards to environmental issues!!!!!

Take exhaust pollution as an obvious example

Every few years they have a "clampdown" that lasts a week or so

Still how many busses here do you see spewing out black smoke????.................That just about sums it up here

Earth hour fell on deaf ears for 99% of the population of Thailand

Edited May 9, 2009 by robbiecia