Earth Hour 2010

I was not home when the Earth Hour began; we have a practice for the coming basketball tournament in our barrio. We were able to finish the practice before the earth hour started but we still decided to meet in the house of our manager to talk about our game plan. We were preoccupied by our discussion and we failed to notice that the earth hour already started, we were just reminded by the wife of one of the player that earth hour already started and encouraged our host to turn off the light because she already did that on their house. Our host responded immediately and turn off all the lights on their house. And he even looks sorry that he failed to do it earlier.

I'm not sure if they also participated in the previous earth hour but the scene I see is a welcome development towards our fight against global warming. This is only show that the earth hour is working and it brings awareness to the Filipinos.

I am very happy with what I witness but I became worried that I am the one who did not participated in the earth hour. Since I wasn’t home, it is possible that my family did not turn off the lights. Because I remember last year when my wife noticed that our neighbors are not participating, she is hesitant to turn off the lights. But when I went home, I was happy to see that all the lights were turn off even though our neighbors still did not participate in the Earth Hour.

Pacquiao vs. Clottey, TV Network vs. Environment

Last March 14, 2010, was a Pacquiao fever again. Pacquiao fought Clottey for WBO Welterweight Championship and as expected majority of the Filipinos were glued on TV. Every time Pacquiao have a fight, almost the entire Philippines pause for a while to witness Manny Pacquiao's fight. Streets in the Philippines become empty and there is no traffic and according to police authority, there is a 0 crime every time Pacquiao's fight.

Another advantage is due to the temporary halt in Filipino activities, carbon emission was halted also. I have a co worker that is complaining on the very long commercial in between rounds of the Pacquiao fight. I told him that it is good because the longer the Filipinos glued on TV the lesser carbon emission. But he told me I am wrong because the television consume electricity therefore the longer it is on, the more pollutant being emitted.



I realized that my co worker have a point, due to the greed for money of the TV Network that is showing the Pacquiao's fight, the commercials usually takes 8 to 9 minutes in between rounds, they also put commercial on every national anthem sang and introduction of fighters, they also done this even on the supporting bouts which is why it takes almost 6 hours just for the 3 boxing cards they televised.

Ironically this TV Network is one of those organizations who participated in the recent Earth Hour and produced a commercial that encouraged Filipinos to join. But it looks like that they will only help the environment if this will not have any effect on their profit. If I remember correctly this is also the TV Network wherein one of their TV personalities asked the audience to turn off the light but not the television.

Sad thing is most of those watching in the free televised Pacquiao vs. Clottey belongs to impoverished citizens of the Philippines because they cannot afford the Pay per View. Imagine how much will the increase on their electric bill because of their television is open for a very long time. How can a multi awarded network was able to take advantage of this poor people just to earn big profit. This TV Network needs to be careful because Pacquiao love his countrymen very much and if he will learn that somebody is taking advantage of them, it is not impossible for him to leave this TV Network as a sign of support for his countrymen and the environment. And the most damaging that may happen is if the Filipinos unite and decided to boycott them. It will be like Ondoy to them, the Natures way of getting the attention of the people for their complete disregard of the environment.