Yes, a kopitiam in Island Glades supported Earth Hour last night.
And I know this because I was having my dinner of chicken chop with Nic there last night and at the appointed time (they were a bit late, maybe late by 10 minutes or so), the coffeeshop owner and his helpers started bringing out candles.
The ‘si tau poh’ of Cheah’s Delights (the Western food outlet which we ordered cheap and delicious chicken chops from) said that the lights will be going off soon.
We were delighted!
As the flourescent lights went off, lit candles were passed out to tables with patrons. So Nic and I in fact enjoyed our ‘candlelight’ dinner!
When we drove home after a deeply satisfying dinner, I saw that the Petronas station near our area also switched off its lights.
Some cynics label Earth Hour (and the switching off lights for an hour) as a mere publicity stunt but I don’t think so. At least people get to ask why we need to do so and this starts conversations about the state of Mother Earth today. Better than putting them to sleep by talking about Kyoto Protocol.
Switching off the lights is something simple and do-able for many people. If we can start with this, I believe there’s hope for other green activities.