I remember my first Earth Hour; it was during class III and our teachers had organised a night under the stars… on the football field. It was a novelty at the time, an exciting mission to save the world and we were among the generation to become more conscious about the world upon which we were put.
Celebrated across the world at the 8.30pm to 9.30pm time slot in a given local time zone, we — as kids — were sure patches of the globe would darken in respect.
But now that’s not the case as we see some disparity in the electric ecosystem and the way in which industrial entities ignore the way in which they’re contributing to a dying planet. In Hyderabad, this is changing; first, we saw the straws in many eateries switch to biodegradable. Then we saw more shoppers bring their own canvas bags to their local market or grocer’s. Now we’re seeing people crop up their own hydroponics farms which happens to clean up the air, even if it’s marginal.
Amitabh Bachchan’s Earth Hour tweet with #Bee4ThePlanet
- This year’s Earth Hour India also carries the hashtag #Bee4ThePlanet which Amitabh Bachchan has endorsed (which he does every year).
- For the days until March 25, people were asked, “Buzz like a bee for as long as you can, record it and upload it on social media. Use #Bee4ThePlanet and challenge five friends to do the same.”
- So why buzz? They explain, “Bees, other pollinators and soil are critical for food security. More than 75% of leading global food crops benefit from pollination. In India, only 0.8% of the bee colonies required to pollinate our agriculture land currently exist.”
This year’s theme is #Connect2Earth.
According to the WWF’s Earth Hour website, “Our connection to Earth and nature is undeniable: our planet’s gain is everyone’s gain. Nature not only provides us with all the things we need to live - from the air we breathe to the water we drink, and from the shelter we need to the economy we rely on - but also makes our lives better. However, its growing loss puts this all under threat. This Earth Hour, join millions around the world to turn off the lights and speak up about why nature matters. #Connect2Earth. WWF has partnered with United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to create connect2earth.org.”
At the time of writing this, the Earth Hour India website showed 5491 people having pledged to connect to the Earth.
In the city
Café Paaka in Tellapur and Autumn Leaf Café in Jubilee Hills will be hosting candlelight dinners on March 30. Bharath Dantuluri of Café Paaka is going greener than the establishment already is. The organic setting of the place thrives on such an occasion. “It helps spread awareness and a contemplative few minutes around the future of our energy consumption and sustainable future,” explains Bharath.
A past candlelight dinner at Café Paaka in Tellapur, Hyderabad
For Deepti Pallapolu of Autumn Leaf Café, this year’s theme is an ingrained behaviour and ethos of the café as it is, explaining, “The vibe of the café itself is healthy. We try not to use plastic straws — we use bamboo straws. We recycle takeaway boxes whenever there is availability and we conserve power. We encourage people to sit outdoors and we feed the street dogs every day and put bird feed and water out.” With the candlelight dinner ahead she comments, “While we won’t be able to turn off the electricity in the kitchen, we will be doing this in the corridor. We’ll see how it’ll be received, especially with the weather being so hot!”
Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre will also be partaking in Earth Hour by cutting off lobby music, lights and other excess amenities. Suhasini Pradeep, manager of marketing and communities, adds, “We’ll be monitoring the power levels the day before and on the night to show there’s a difference when we do take these actions.” To keep things going, a march will also take place around the Tank Bund area.
A past candlelight dinner at Café Paaka in Tellapur, Hyderabad
Is Earth Hour still a thing though? Or has it become something that we look as a hashtag-worthy project for the single hour out of the year?
“The purpose of doing Earth Hour is because we are not able to do this as a regular practice which we should be doing,” points out Deepti, “We believe in being a part of nature and reminding people how important it is to do so. Although I follow it everyday, we don’t insist on people following it. On this day, we kind of insist customers on being a part of it to provoke a thought.”
