Earth Hour 2018

It was a different challenge for me this time round, the Earth Hour 2018 episode (last night) was actually filled with guitar playing. Kept the front door open to enjoy the corridor lighting, brought my Kiesel DC, Blackstar FLY3 amp & an OD pedal to the door vicinity & sat on the floor. The account:

1. Sitting on the floor with the instrument resting on the lap is a numbing experience. The leg  cramped up easily & it necessitated some stretching every other 5min or so.
2. Poor lighting affects fretboard visibility & induced mistakes.
3. Poor ventilation due to the 'dead' ceiling fan meant sweaty palms got in the way of playing as well.

I could imagine those performers struggling to manage themselves on dark stages or other poorly lit venues. Most of the time, I wasn't looking at the fretting hand & relied heavily on feel which didn't pay off because it's not how I usually play. I compelled myself to play for 30min before retiring to the couch with the cat.

Our cat had been a darling throughout the episode, she chose to sleep after this pic was taken. 👍

Anyway, Earth Hour as always, is hype. It's only acknowledged by people who bothered & remained truly committed to the cause. Respecting the ailing earth isn't on everyone's life agenda. The residents here showed no special acknowledgements of what Earth Hour meant to them. Doubt if they even knew it took place. I'm doing this to create awareness for my little girl here especially so when the school shared the event during brief classroom moments just days ago. By doing so, we manifest a concerted effort in addressing common concerns, it should not be a lopsided affair; learning institutions do not bear the brunt entirely when education is concerned. Kids look up to parents as well & we make efforts to ensure  learning becomes holistic. In any case, I do not see  environmental awareness becoming an embraced philosophy in the heartlands. Mind you, even Earth Hour itself has a commercial slant to it so a genuine care for the environment must truly come from the heart.

Wishing everyone a good week ahead- it's the final week of March.

Earth Hour 2017

Earth hour 2017; we ended our observations just minutes ago. This year, no candles were lit up as everyone in the house was rather lethargic. We chose to sleep it through (ok, they have called it a day), less yours truly here. I'm not someone who would easily fall into slumber under the cloak of night. Born with Batman DNA, I guess.

Anyway, what's an hour's worth of shut down mean to the environment? Dollars & cents aside, it is the accumulative acknowledgement of the people towards power consumption. If you are true to the cause, regardless of the savings, you'd do it. Is it asking too much for you not to consume power for an hour today considering the fact that you've been using more than an hour's worth of power prior to this? How about accepting the fact you've been devouring power for hours on end on a daily basis. That's just a domestic consideration- we have industrial, commercial & civic use of power as well. I'm not an environmental renegade in this aspect but it's about knowing where one stands in this perspective; if you can do your part, why not chip in. 😉

Earth Hour 2016

We observed Earth Hour last night. It's very simple; we switched off as many electrical appliances as possible for an hour- 2030hrs - 2130hrs. Only the fridge & wifi were available. Everything else was switched off. We gathered whatever birthday candles we had left & lit them up in the wash room & living room. The cat found this activity enjoyable because we were made to live an hour in its realm. The night hunter thrives on very little light unlike us bumbling fools. 

The objective of this exercise was to teach my little girl the value of energy. More importantly, energy is taken for granted in this country. Proof- many people don't feel guilty leaving appliances switched on even when these were not in use. At closing time, walk around the shopping centers here & you'll see some lights left switched on in retail units. Was this necessary? A security personnel told me it was a security measure. Some lights left switched on would give away criminal movements. I'm sure stores here would have armed their stores with state-of-the-art security equipment by now. These things could document criminal shadows in the dark but you wonder how many stores here are interested in such security measures.

Back home, how many of us actually switch off our modem before we go to bed? That night light- is it necessary at all? How many public lifts here have sleep features? It's easy to see how energy gets used up all around us. Our infrastructure today is very energy reliant. Let's not forget energy production here comes from natural resources which we do not posses. It's a costly affair & it's about time we do something about energy consumption. 

These days, if I stop playing for more than 5min to figure something out, I would switch everything off entirely because I know I'm wasting energy. I actually need some off time to do something else other than playing guitar so things are better off switched off. I'd switch everything back on again much later when I know there is a continuous playing time, it's more efficient this way, less wastage. 

What can you do to prevent energy wastage?

Earth hour 2014

We have been commemorating Earth Hour & it was no exception this 2014. Unlike previous years, there was absolutely no playing last Saturday (29-3-2014), I actually read in the dark for the entire 60min. There was less EH promotion this year or so I noted. I remember the media making it a big deal in 2013, asking people to come down to town & join the rest of the participants in the name of awareness. The news did some pre-EH coverage to play their part.

This year, the focus was at Marina Bay where Garfield, Fox & gang were part of the EH 2014 event so it was an Amazing Spiderman Earth Hour so to speak. Imagine the amount of electricity used for this event, regardless if it's gagged for an hour to observe the event proper. Gee... Hopefully, it had been an amazing EH in terms of awareness but once again, having looked around on that day, just in my neighbourhood vicinity, people were largely oblivious to EH. The love for Mother Earth, it seems, appeals to only a certain fraction of the national demographics. The typical Uncles & Aunties here had no clue what it was all about. This had been the case for the past few EH commemorations or so. In terms of reach, in my opinion, it failed quite miserably.

Whatever it had been, we did our part in our own special ways. Some of our ways were more EH than others.

Earth hour 2013

Earth hour happened just hours ago. Embrace darkness.

Is it about that per se- enduring discomfort for an hour to show concern for Mother Earth? After its initial observance in 2007, this event took a commercial slant & today it's rather fashionable to be seen in EH events in town. There are usually post-EH activities going on after the passing of the official observance hour & I'd say, the amount of electricity used would defeat the conservation that took place during the EH hour itself. And the politicians present during that post-EH celebrations... tsk, tsk tsk. Read the papers to know who they are.

What we did- listened to music (a very mono, transistor experience) in the dark

Earth hour: 31st March

Saw this poster today & was reminded of my participation (no, I didn't go to town & had my EH observance there). What will you be doing come 31-3-2012, 8.30PM?

Anyway, the WWF people should know they left out a question mark at the end of that question.

Earth Hour 2011: Embracing darkness

2011's Earth Hour just ended moments ago. The community around me was oblivious to the attempt in giving  Mother Earth her due respect. A quick look out of the window showed no signs of massive participation. The wedding preparation two blocks away showed no signs of moderation either, life at the coffee shop across the road went on as usual, full of loud talking & approved time squandering. 

There was an attempt to maintain essential visibility in my residence so a box of little candles were put to good use. The observation was that birthday candles would last you 10min while the slightly bigger variant for kiddy lanterns, gave light for 30min. It was time well-spent listening to music & lying down since bed-time was looming ahead. At the end of the observance, a quick check with the local news showed more participation down town where concerted efforts created the necessary awareness to rope in public participation. People, left to their own undertaking, wouldn't see the hour's worth in sparing a thought for the planet in which they live in.

I sincerely believe there are guitarists, bassists & other musicians alike who took part in Earth Hour this year, regardless of how big/ small their contributions were. I salute you.

Earth Hour 2011

Dear friends, let's observe Earth Hour today. Please switch off as many electrical devices/ equipment as we can at 8.30PM for one hour. The people of today are educated enough to empathize with the fate of this earth, let's act within out means.

A big THANK YOU in advance.

Earth hour

Earth hour- played guitar without electricity (not done at home, though):

1. Ibanez GRGR010
2. Ibanez TS7
3. Korg PX5D
4. X-mini speaker

 Last year when we switched off all lights & watched TV in the dark in participation of the Earth Hour event, my granny came out of her room to switch everything back on. This year, I approached it differently.