400 organisations pledge commitment to support Earth Hour

Lynda Hong Channel NewsAsia 24 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE : Earth Hour is three days away and so far, most of the 400 participating organisations have pledged to switch off non-essential lights on Saturday from 8.30pm.

Every month, Earth Hour is observed at Food #03.

The cafe was inspired by the environmental campaign that started internationally two years ago.

But the cafe feels that keeping patrons in the dark should be kept to once a month effort so that the message is not taken lightly.

Gene D'Castro, partner, Food #3, said: "We feel that it will lose its symbolism. Once a month - it is making a strong statement. People become more aware that it is an environmental statement."

Most people told MediaCorp although they did not pledge their support, they did observe Earth Hour last year.

But it will be tough to put this year's slogan "Earth Hour, Every Hour" into practice.

As one person said: "Maybe every hour is a bit too much, because we do need the lights."

For 10 hours starting at 8.30pm on Saturday, CapitaLand is turning off facade lights of its 190 properties worldwide.

Wong Hooe Wai, chairman, CapitaLand Green Committee, said: "We have to strike a balance, because we need to have good ambience for our visitors as well. But then, you have to look at it holistically, because there are other things that we can do to conserve energy."

Organiser World Wide Fund for Nature said Earth Hour goes beyond switching off the lights for 60 minutes.

It wants to encourage people to make a commitment to adopt a sustainable lifestyle.

Those who want to pledge their commitment can go to the Earth Hour website: http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx

- CNA/ms


It's not just about lighting candles

Environmental groups say more can be done to reduce carbon footprint
Esther Ng, Today Online 25 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE - More companies are observing Earth Hour this year with a slew of activities including countdown parties, "going lift-less" and dining by candlelight. But some green groups and environmentalists say more could be done.

"It's good that more businesses are coming onboard, but these displays seem rather ritualistic and we've gone past advocacy already," said Mr Tay Lai Hock, president of environmental group Ground Up Initiative. "We need to reduce our carbon footprint and energy consumption on a daily basis."

Parties, meanwhile, generate a lot of waste or rubbish, said Ms Olivia Choong, founder of Green Drinks, a non-profit group.

According to her, lighting candles are not environmentally friendly as one burning candle generates about 16g of carbon dioxide per hour.

Still, Green Drinks did organise a film screening to commemorate Earth Hour last night.

It would be "more practical to get Singaporeans to give air-conditioning the flick as it is the biggest energy guzzler in Singapore", said self-confessed greenie Joe Lim.

Tomorrow, Concorde Hotel Singapore will switch off its lobby lights, leaving only the counter lights at its front office and entrance on. All lights at the hotel's facade will also be off .

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Singapore is partnering Environmental Challenge Organisation (ECO) Singapore, in educating 20,000 households around the island on how to conserve energy.

Some 1,200 youth will spend the afternoon in Bedok, Siglap, Hong Kah and Pasir Ris, knocking on doors to distribute recycled paper bookmarks and share tips on energy conservation.

In a bid to incorporate more energy and climate saving initiatives into its systems, Coca-Cola changed all 319 metal halide bulbs in the warehouse and loading bay of its Tuas plant to energy saving light bulbs last year.

Not content with switching off lights for one hour, students from Nanyang Technological University's Earthlink, an environmental club, have launched a two-week campaign to get their peers to use the stairs and stop using straws for their drinks.

This is the third year that World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is organising Earth Hour, and director Carine Seror is heartened by the response.

"When we started in 2008, we didn't have a proper campaign and we didn't know how many companies took part, but this year 400 companies have pledged on our website and I expect the number to be higher after Saturday," she said.

WWF received 450 pledges last year.