Saturday, 27 March 2010

Earth Hour - This Little light of Mine

Today is being marked as Earth Day in 125 countries all over the globe and people are being asked to switch off their lights etc between 8.30 and 9.30 pm local time. There is a huge media campaign going on in India. And I do appreciate the efforts of people trying to reduce their carbon imprint and conserve energy.
But if you look at the other side of the coin or globe then you will find that in India and other less developed countries we are natural conservators of energy and resources and these green shenanigans are passe for us.
We are already facing severe power shortages. Everyday we have power outage lasting 3 to 4 hours maybe more. The voltage is so bad that our household appliances are affected. With voltage fluctuation my fridge makes such a horrible noise, one would think there are a dozen rattle snakes living inside it. My microwave oven blew out in Jan. I have not been able to get it fixed.

Horrible as it may sound but we are natural conservators due to power, water and food shortages , unequal distribution of wealth and technology and illiteracy.
The area where my sister Namrita lives (Meghalaya) is facing severe drought. They get a meagre water supply for half an hour morning and evening. Even doing her laundry is a struggle.
I don 't need my newspaper to tell me that in India people are not dying of starvation they are living in it.
What we need is to educate people to conserve forests, manage garbage disposal and industrial waste, and harvest wind and solar energy. Work is being done in these areas but it is just a drop in the ocean. I would like to see solar powered appliances made available to us.
You can read about Earth Day HERE
So I am not switching off my little bulb. And if I could I would watch
this video as it has no stars in it.
I have not played safe in this post. Go on flail me.

10 Fertilize my soul:

Nancy said...

Well said Amrita....God bless you !

Amrita said...

Thank you Nancy

Dick said...

Yes it's true what you mentioned. India must be a good place for having solar panels but I'm afraid most people there can't afford them.
They are really expensive, too much for me also.

Holly, the Old Western Gal said...

Oh, where's my flail?

Tee hee.

No, Amrita, GOOD FOR YOU. Or, GOOD ON YA, as the Aussies say. I would say that the wealthy nations are PLAYING at conservation, playing at it! Instead of normal attempts to conserve, to reuse, not to waste, they speak of extracting CO2 from the air and pumping it into special salt caverns, etc. Foolishness, pork barrel stuff, payoffs to friends and cronies to be the ones involved in the effort!

Take a page from India, rest of the world! LIVE IT daily, wake up!!!

Got get 'em, Amrita!

Anonymous said...

We'd like to go solar but it's expensive..I have heard that you can rent the solar panels though..something to look into....

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Amrita:)

Very interesting and informative post.

In Kochi there is no water shortage but comes only in the night and fills up the underground tank. We pump it up in the morning. Hence there is no water shortage. Besides we have bore well pump and all our washing and cleaning is done with that.

Last year there were power cuts for one hour in the night.But this year so far there is no power cuts.So our emergency lamp is lying idle but we keep charging because otherwise it will not work when we need it.

It is a good idea to develop solar power and at present solar power is very costly.

Power fluctuation is a common thing here. Once there was so much fluctuation that the mother board of the TV got damaged inspite of the fact I had a stabiliser. Of course the stabiliser was also damaged. To replace the mother board I spent Rs.4000.I was furious but what can I do?

Well in India no official agency is responsible for any thing and people like us can't do a thing about it.And life goes on Amrita inspite of starvation,sucide by debt ridden farmers, escalating cost of essential commodities, lack of medical facilities, high cost of medicine, shortage of clean drinking water,communal riots etc. In fact tbe beauty is that our population grows and grows stupendously inspite of the shortages and deficiencies:)

Wish you and your family a wonderful Sunday:)

Felisol said...

Dear Amrita,
I do feel guilty when reading your post.
I know I should save more, and had the best of intentions to cut the light at 20.30 yesterday night.
Then I simply forgot. Serina and I were out shopping, and when we came home it was past 21.
I strongly disagree with the Norwegian government though.
They will not do enough to save the co2 exhaust in Norway. Instead they are buying "climate quotes" from countries less privileged.
One doesn't turn a people's conscience that way.
Our garbage is carefully sorted, Paper, plastic, food, glass and rest, but then driven by trucks all the way to Sweden to be burnt.
Makes me want to cry.
Have a good Palm Sunday.
From Felisol

Amrita said...

Thank you friends for your good commentser- tips. My jar is jingling.

Hi Holly I thought you would come after me with your famous flail.

Carol-Ann. said...

Hey Amrita ....
Is it possible to get good quality surge protectors for your appliances? Do you have them and the power surges blow them out too?

I noticed one comment above said that had happened for him but perhaps his surge protector had been blown and not replaced and the next blow got the appliance. I'd love to know the answer to this!

Amrita said...

Dear Mr Joseph, you are very very fortunate in Kerala.
A land flowing with power and water I should say.

We also use bore well water for gardening at least, otherwise we would have no garden. But out govt. supply is OK for us , we store it in an overhead tank.

You are right about Indians being resillient people.

Dear Felisol, don 't feel bad I know you are a very enviromentally concious person and have a very sympathetic outlook towards the rest of the world.

Hi Carol_Ann, Yes they are available but they are steeply priced Rs 5,000 or more. Have to by-pass them.