Dear Earth Lover,

Earth Hour is wrong!

Do you remember the Earth Hour this year, March 27, 2021? Did you participated in it? Why?

Earth Hour is aims to protect the earth. As a symbolization of your commitment to it, during the declared national earth hour, people turn off their lights for one hour. For some, it means pulling down the fuse to turn off the electric source not just turning off the lights, for some it means electric-free for an hour. Millions of people join this movement without knowing that it is wrong.

I said, Earth Hour is wrong but let me clear it. I do not mean that the movement itself is wrong. It has a will to protect the earth but sadly, this movement causes more problem than solution.

I love earth hour, I participate in it every year since I was 12. I was in grade 6 when I first heard about it. But why do I say that it is wrong?

People use generators or light candles

We turn off our lights at home to symbolize our participation for the earth hour. That is good. Sadly, others light candles to have a light source for an hour of turning the electric lights off. Candles were use as replacement for illumination.

And those who have generators, especially those business owners cannot afford to fully turn off their electric source because they need it in their business. So they use generators just to support the movement.

But we may not be aware that were causing more harm than benefit because of those above mentioned actions. Burning candles produces carbon emission and greenhouse emission up to 10 times more than incandescent bulbs.

Turning on our electricity at the same time

Turning off our electricity at the same time will cause a significant drop in electricity demand but after an hour, after that earth hour, we will be turning on our electricity at the same time, too. That will cause a sudden fire up in electricity demand and more gas and coal will be needed to restore the electricity supplies.

I may not be good at explaining this, but I hope you got my point about this. I am telling you to stop caring for the earth, I just want to remind that we should be careful and mindful with our actions. We might not notice that we are causing more trouble than help to our beloved earth.

Earth Hour in 2022 will be on March 26, at 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm here in Philippines. When is yours? Will you join it?