12/5/2009 The CSR Digest » Lights Out For Eart…

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Lights Out For Earth Hour

Posted By admin On 30/03/2009 @ 10:15 In Editorials | No Comments

It w as reported [1] that tens of thoursands of businesses and households in Malaysia

joined millions of others globally in turning off non-essential lights for a one-hour
campaign aimed at raising awareness on the global climate crisis.

The campaign, Earth Hour [2] , was initiated by World Wide Fund for Nature (WW F), and
w as Malaysia’s first participation in the event since its inception in 2007. W WF senior
director (support operations), Sudeep Mohandas, was reported [3] to have said that
more than five million people worldwide w ere expected to participate in the event.

[4]

Indian Muslim Coffee Shop using candles to mark Earth

Hour

According to news reports [5] , all 123 Starbucks outlets in Malaysia sw itched off its
non-essential lights for the occasion. Likewise, the CSR Digest noted that fastfood
chain, W endy’s, had also pledged to do the same. Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) group
CEO, Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, also was reported to have announced that the
telecommunications company would switch off all non-essential lights at its Menara TM
headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and offices nationw ide.

Meanwhile, news reports state that the Petronas Twin Towers stopped gleaming at
8.30 pm, w hile a base jumper carrying the Earth Hour flag parachuted from the KL
Tower to signal the start of the event. Other businesses’ premises w hich were seen to
participate in the event included Angkasapuri, Menara TM, Menara Maybank, Istana
Budaya, Bursa Malaysia [6] , Fitness First Malaysia, YTL, Sunrise
Berhad, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Menara Kuala Lumpur, Media Prima Bhd, Astro
All Asia Networks plc, Honda Malaysia, HSBC Amanah Bhd, Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Kuala Lumpur, Sheraton Subang Hotel and Kuala Lumpur Pavilion, Petronas, Hong
Leong Group of Companies, Kuala Lumpur Hospital and the National Heart Institute.

[7]

Sunway-ow ned buildings go lights-

out

Restaurants and entertainment joints around the capital also dimmed their lights while
some offered candle light themed dinner and programmes for their patrons. The CSR
Digest noted even some coffee shops serving food to their by candle light.

In East Malaysia, it w as reported that Kuching’s major hotels supported the campaign
by switching off lights in the lobby and the non-essential lights in their compounds.

W WF-Malaysia executive director, Datuk Dionysius Shama, was reported to have said
that the campaign w as a success and showed that Malaysians were also very
concerned about environment issues. He said the public’s response toward the
campaign was overwhelming even though only 500 companies and some 60,000
households had registered to support the event.

The CSR Digest took a drive through the of the south of the Klang Valley, namely
through Puchong to Sunway to Cyber Jaya. As reported, all Sunway owned buildings
had their non-essential lights turned off. In Cyber Jaya, the CSR Digest found major
outsourcing centres, such as IBM, HSBC and Ericsson w ith their lights off during the
hour as well.

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12/5/2009 The CSR Digest » Lights Out For Eart…
The Earth Hour, unfortunately, is not without its critics [8] . An eco activist, who prefers
to be unnamed, recently told the CSR Digest that it w as a shame that the hour w as
merely symbolic, and that nothing w as in place to measure the difference made by
shutting off of the non-essential lights during that hour. “It seemed like a w asted
opportunity that the benefits of energy-saving w as not being measured, and that the
blackout hour w as merely symbolic,” she said.

However, a later new s report [9] stated that Tenaga Nasional Berhad announced that
pow er consumption dipped by 550 megawatt during Earth Hour. This notwithstanding,
another environmental activist told the CSR Digest that switching off the lights w ould
not make as much of a difference compared to sw itching off refrigerators or air-
conditions.

A blogger from Penang expresses the same sentiment. Lilian Chan [10] states, “I
w onder how on earth an hour without lights will make this w orld a better place? I am
still going to hide in my aircond room, drink a cold drink from the fridge, using the PC
and other things that need electricity.” Chan also questions the plans to release of
hundreds of helium balloons in Penang to mark Earth Hour, an activity w hich will
undoubtedly cause much environmental harm.

[11]

Petronas station with non-essential lights off

Furthermore, a hard-hitting letter [12] w as sent in to the Star newspaper. Markus from
Petaling Jaya writes:

It is also ironic that the organiser, W WF Malaysia, up until very recently,

did not even have a climate change programme to begin with when all
others (even local groups and individuals) have been persistent in their
pleas for Malaysians to take action.

Remember, our leaders signed the Kyoto Protocol and there has been
concerted movement towards reaching solutions. Please let us all be
enlightened and move away from celebrations and gimmicks.

Businesses too are not unaw are of the ineffectual nature of the initiative. For example,
Telekom CEO, Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, w as reported to have said that even
though the event “was a symbolic gesture”, the company already has energy-
conserving good practices in place as the environment is one of the major social
responsibilities of the corporation.

[13]

HSBC (Cyber Jaya) during Earth Hour

However, rather than focussing on the negative, it is indeed a celebration to know that
Earth Hour 2009 has succeeded in far greater measures of Malaysian education and
aw areness than those of preceding years.◊

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