Compiled
from Supreme Master Television News (Originally in English)
Earth Hour, March 29, Golden Year 5 (2008), was one of the largest global environmental awareness events of our time, with cities and communities from around the world switching off their lights for one hour at 8pm, local time. In every location, thousands to hundreds of thousands of households and groups joined in, including government offices, schools and businesses. Created by the World Wide Fund for Nature, Earth Hour was first held in Australia in 2007, with only major Australian cities participating. This year, the event was held in many different countries and international correspondents from Supreme Master Television interviewed participants from Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, the UK, the USA, Hong Kong, Formosa, Korea, Singapore, Canada, Thailand and other nations. In an interview with Dan Forman, US spokesperson for the World Wide Fund for Nature, said that Earth Hour sends a strong message to government leaders: “I think it definitely says that we care about climate change. We recognize that climate change is a global issue that affects all of us, and we want legislation done to curb the effects.” As millions from around the world switched off their lights, the participants showed that in just one hour a world of difference could be made. All it takes are simple changes in lifestyle, with the most immediate and cost-free being to switch off electric lights, and an even more effective way being to switch to a vegetarian diet.  Australian Senator Andrew Bartlett of Queensland said he was in favor of turning off lights and electrical appliances, however, to most effectively address climate change over the long term, lifestyle changes are needed. The Senator added, “There is no easier, cheaper and more immediate thing we can do to significantly reduce our personal contribution to greenhouse emissions than to cut the amount of meat and dairy products that we consume. It is something which has clearly verified health and environmental benefits that we can do straight away, rather than having to wait for new technology, better public transport services or renewable energy options to be provided. It saves money rather than costs it and doesn’t cause any ongoing harm to our economy.” Senator Bartlett cited the UN report Livestock’s Long Shadow, which asserts that greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture are greater than those from all forms of transport combined. The Senator further stated, “We can’t afford to keep sitting back and waiting for governments, technology or markets to fix things on their own. We also have to acknowledge the scientific facts that if we don’t substantially cut back on the consumption of animal products, our chances of stopping major climate change are almost nil.” Awareness of climate change and how we can combat it has also spread to the energy sector. For instance, the Korea Power Engineering Company, responsible for building most of the power plants in South Korea, participated in the Earth Hour event. Kim Heng Young, Executive Auditor of the Company said, “CO2 emissions due to excessive energy consumption in modern life have caused the serious problem of global warming.” He added that reducing energy consumption will help lower greenhouse gas emissions, and “greenhouse gases coming from the livestock industry are also significant. Therefore, if we stop eating meat and start a vegetarian diet, that’ll reduce meat consumption, and the livestock industry will decline, which I believe will help reduce greenhouse gases.” Also, Dr. William Schaedla, Director of World Wide Fund for Nature in Thailand poignantly said, “Nothing works unless the governments are behind it and actually working hand in hand with the people of the country to promote energy efficiency, to promote awareness.” With inspiration from Earth Hour’s global event, governments, energy companies and citizens from all the world’s nations will hopefully come together and address climate change quickly.
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