Earth Hour Reflections: Progress Vs. Environmentalism

I hope you all participated in Earth Hour and remembered to get those lights off. If not, don’t fret. There is always next year. Anyway, I was sitting on the couch this morning, sipping on an excellent cup of coffee and watching the news. Guess what was on? Yes, stunning shots of lights all over the world being turned OFF. That one hour made a difference. Maybe it wasn’t a major difference, granted, but a difference nonetheless. It’s more about the symbolism: that millions of people around the world have pledges to support a single cause. My only hope is that more and more people will learn about it and be a part of this wonderful event. It could also use a little more “umph” as well. What do I mean by that? Well, why not, as I mentioned in my previous post, turn off other unnecessary items as well for just an hour? An hour without electricity can’t be that bad can it? No, I don’t think so. After all, it can be a pretty fun experience right? Grab a couple of friends and have a party. Anyway, here are a few videos from the events and then I’ll get into a discussion I had with my dad while watching these amazing videos. Enjoy!

Alright, let’s get back to our little discussion. I’ve already talked about Earth Hour and what my hopes for it in the future are. If nothing changes, I still stand by it because it’s a great event to promote awareness for the world’s problems. Sooner or later, we’ll have to come face to face with them and every person will have to take extra steps then. Why not try and make a statement about it now? Back to the discussion I had with my dad this morning. It’s good to get the viewpoint of someone from a different age group. In this case, from a different generation. This is his argument: there is a lot of focus now on finding renewable energy sources, so it’s not as big as a problem as it was when he was in China. He also said that the problem today is that we, as a society don’t encourage proper disposal and recycling as well as conservation of resources as much as he did when he was a child. He remembers having to bring in old toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes in order to purchase new ones. In this way, there is little waste and everything is maintained so that they will last for longer periods of time. Why? Because almost everyone lived in poverty. His argument is that environmentalism can be attained, but at the expense of progress. If we are able to make everything “green” and if everybody, for example, started walking instead of driving, he argues that the automobile industry would have to lay off everyone and that would set off a whole bunch of chain reactions. Think about it. I did for a little while and it makes some sense. Just another viewpoint. Anyway, hope you all had a great Earth Hour! Looking forward to Earth Hour 2010. Who wants to host a huge party in San Francisco?