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Green campaign-Jakarta goes dark for Earth Hour
Jakarta was dimmer for an hour on Saturday night, in a sign of support for a global movement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
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Jakarta was dimmer for an hour on Saturday night, in a sign of support for a global movement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The capital and 25 other cities across the country joined the 2012 Earth Hour campaign by switching off the lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Events marking the campaign in Jakarta were held at the Central Park shopping mall in West Jakarta. The World Wide Fund (WWF), the movement’s initiator, scrapped the plan to hold the event at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle due to the ongoing protests against the government’s fuel price hike plans.
The Jakarta administration turned off lights at the city’s landmarks and thoroughfares: The National Monument, the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the Arjuna Wiwaha fountain and the City Hall. The administration also turned off lights and commercial billboards on Jl. Sudirman, Jl. MH Thamrin, Jl. Gatot Subroto and Jl. HR Rasuna Said.
In March last year, the city saved 170 megawatts (MW) in the one-hour switch-off activity. That was up from 120 MW in 2010 and 80 MW in 2009. Should 10 percent of Jakarta residents turn off their lights for one hour, the city could save up to 300 MW.
The WWF said 26 cities joined the campaign, though only nine had the support of their administrations. The cities include Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Surakarta, Banda Aceh and Makassar.
In Jakarta, by turning off the lights for one hour, it is estimated they could save 267 trees by preventing the release of 267.3 tons of CO2.
Laura Stefhannie, the campaign’s public relations official, said 60 companies and 27 communities supported the events in Jakarta. Approximately 819,000 people signed up at the campaign website.
While some may find the movement merely symbolic, those who joined in said it was the beginning of a greener way of life. “We want this to be more than a ceremonial event. We want people to save energy and start a green lifestyle,” said Nirwono Joga, a landscape architect. (cor)
