In less than 15 minutes, it will be the official earth hour in Jakarta, Indonesia a place where the writer currently resides. This blog entry is made solely on the battery power of my laptop and without any other source of electricity. For the matter of publishing the writer is using a USB dongle of 3G internet service and hopefully it will reign on.  Update: at least one of the building in Jakarta turning of their lights, which is kinda neat, but the rest.... 

Update 2: just heard some malls are actually turning off their lights cool :) although Malaysians are very daring to turn off the Petronas Twin Towers.

Update 3: The Flickr Photo Group have the picture of Jakarta during the Earth Hour, you can find it here. There is a very clear picture on Sampoerna Strategic Square turning their lights off and some other beautiful picture as well.

It is another earth hour this year, and unlike the previous one, tonight is backed by many organisation and public figures (in Jakarta), the message is very clear and concise, do something for mother earth and do it tonight by switching off the lights for 60 minutes. 

After that then?

The trend to care of the environment have been gradually increasing; we have seen many movies, lectures, seminars, and music concerts to address this awareness. However those all would meant nothing if the care for the environment is only present at that particular time. 

What’s next after earth hour? that’s the part that haven’t being explained by the organising committee of the earth hour, will people continue to their daily habit again and next year to do this same routine again, to vote earth again on 2010? I certainly hope not. The idea of voting for earth is not by just turning the lights off for 60 minutes during the earth hour only, the real deal is how to vote for earth everyday in our life. 

Sceptics of the earth hour and the global warming have something in common, their disbelieve of the event and the ability of people to keep up to vote earth. Although it is very simple to do something for the environment which can be done in their daily lives. Use the public transport, bring your own case when you’re taking away food, and simply, use less paper and many other things that we, ordinary people can do. 

Do not let this just become a trend, a media over-hype and just something people do to achieve credibility. So turn off your lights tonight, however the real business starts after this, change your daily habit and act beyond 60 minutes. Keep voting for earth.

Cheers

ps: just for the fun of it now I'll shower in the dark