Save the planet

Earth Hour just ended! There, just one hour without the lights, and that wasn't too difficult right. And I am so into it that my lights in the house were not on since 6pm, and its not even on now, haha. For the hour, I refrained from using my lappie, sop just watch TV. I wanted to try to do something that used less electricity. Initially I wanted to off the TV as well, to show my total support, but it was really boring, haha. Everything else in my house was off. Really felt great aboout it. And for once in a long long time, I could see so many stars in our skies. For those who look at the sky often, you'll find that it is not easy to see the stars in cities, because the amount of lights in the city will make star sightings difficult. But tonight, when I looked into the sky, there were stars up there. Many, many of them. It was really beautiful. The last time I managed to see so many stars was on an overnight train in Europe, and the train was moving through the country-side (ie no lamps, and very little light). I hope this really drives the message to everyone to support energy conservation, and say no to climate change. I'm definately no saint or Miss World wannabe, but really think that this 'save the earth' message is a very important one for everyone. And it is something that everyone can practice in their everyday life. I must say that it did disturb me a little when I looked out of the window and still see so many homes not participating (deep inside I was like "hello people, its Earth Hour. Haven't you been watching TV. Switch off your lights people"), maybe they think that the energy their home is using is insignificant, but I can tell you that every little bit counts, just one switch can go a long way. I do think that the government can do a little more to drive the message across to the people, esp to those in the heartland. (1) Put up posters on the HDB hotice boards (2) engage students to do house visits to encourage people to off their lights during Earth hour (students now have community service thingy right, just award a few points for those who participate) (3) during Earth hour, HDB can arrange to switch off alternate lights along the corridoor (don't have to off everything, but alternate the lighting to dim the area, so that residents will realise that something is on going). I think that since the message is to be brought to everyone, some little efforts can be done to promote the idea to the heartlanders. Because ultimately switching off iconics is only a national publicity, and if the message is not driven across, then the entire hour is probably wasted. Just my thoughts.