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Tonight the world got together and took part in Earth Hour, where each time zone made an effort to conserve energy by turning out the lights for an hour, creating an interesting effect of a dark band moving across the earth.
A year ago I participated in Earth Hour for the first time. I was invited to a friend's house for dinner, and I asked her if we could turn off the lights for an hour. She was kind enough to agree, and we finished dinner by candlelight. I felt pretty good about that.
This year I did my best to observe Earth Hour while in Taipei. I stayed out of my hotel room to make sure it stayed dark. I also chose not to dine in any restaurants, so we ended up going from stall to stall in the night market on the Tonghua and Linjiang Streets (通化街／臨江街). While I didn't exactly dine by candlelight like last year, I did my best to minimize my usage of electricity.
I look forward to Earth Hour next year. Until then, I'll consciously cut down my electricity consumption - as I have been trying to do.
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4 comments:
Peech,
This has nothing to do with the theme of your blog, not to mention that the Earth Hour is just a lie. A con job celebrated by all the green wannabes. Have you unplugged your fridge? I bet not.
Electricity is a gift of human progress, a creation of science and technology. It should be celebrated and embraced. Just as no one has unplugged their fridge in this little green show, we human seek comfort and convenience the best we can. Energy will NOT run out. Clean energy will become more popular. The collective intelligence of mankind will prevail. Staying in the dark for an hour to supposedly 'save the world' will be laughed upon by our grand children.
Lacie
Lacie,
I will respectfully disagree with you on this. Staying in the dark for an hour may not save a lot of energy, but the fact that more and more people participate each year means that awareness is being raised to save energy.
I am not worried about energy running out. I am, however, keen to cut down my energy consumption and carbon footprint. I am not about to give up my daily comfort and go live in a cave, but there are things we can do to be less wasteful when it comes to energy. I think "waste not" is a good habit to have, regardless of what the object is.
Peech,
I really appreciate your blog on energy saving. Forgive me but I have always had the impression that this is a rather superficial blog, indulging in ultra expensive wines and food, sustained by irrational high-street salaries. I read it out of curiosity to see how the top 1% live. To give credit where it is due, a long while back, you did write about the many disposable utensils or cups you waste in a day and that you should carry a mug with you instead. Not sure if you manage but the fact that it even crossed your mind was already a good thing.
Peech,
I do not agree what Anonymous above said. Your blog is nothing superficial. It's a celebration of human ingenuity with food and grapes.
It's just a bit insincere for you to blog about other things such as consuming less energy. When you sit in the Caprice or Pierre, did you not realise that french cooking is so energy intensive that the energy spent cooking the sauce could have cooked an entire dinner for a low income family?
I'm not saying you should. In fact you shouldn't. I use your blog as a restaurant guide, and I'd have to resort to the useless Michelin book if you stop eating out.
My point is, we don't know if Earth needs to be saved in the first place. I'm all for energy efficiency, but I am not convinced that we should ever inconvenient ourselves to save the world which may not need to be saved in the first place. Not to mention that the Earth Hour is such a feel good thing designed to let people unload some of the guilty feelings and continue indulge in the comfort brought by human advancement in the year to come.
Enjoy your food and wine!
Lacie
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