Friday 14 December 2007

Batti Bandh!

The Logo


switch off your lights for 1 hour

on 15th December

from 7:30 p.m. to 8: 30 p.m.

Batti Bandh


There has been a lot of talk going on about global warming and energy conservation. Thanks to the extensive campaigning by Al Gore and the media coverage, saving the environment by doing our bit is the need of the hour! Environmental degradation is something that I feel about and I want to do my bit by trying to undo the damage. I have been involved with this movement called Mumbai Unplug: Batti Bandh for some weeks now. I got introduced to it by one of my college friends Parth, who is one of the main supporters and organisers.



A child and his mother paint for
the Batti Bandh event at Juhu Beach
9.12.07


At the Procession/morcha in Andheri on the 7th


There is a story behind this movement and it goes like this:

4 months back, a group of young men - Neil, Shiladitya, Keith, Kevin and Rustom had been watching "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warming and how we have just 8 years to reverse its effects. They felt it was time to get up and do something and they came up with this idea of making Mumbai switch off all electricity for an hour. Just one hour. On 15th December. That’s not asking for much. This idea was actually inspired by a similar movement that happened that quite recently happened in Sydney. It was an event called the Earth Hour in which reportedly 2 million people participated. People switched off electrical appliances for an hour to conserve electricity. Now why go to such a length and what does it all mean? Well, stats showed that switching off all electrical appliances for an hour resulted in 24.86 tons of carbon dioxide not being released into the atmosphere which is the equivalent of taking more than 48,600 cars off the road. I want to spread the word to be a part of this thing and just unplug for an hour tomorrow. And you need not necessarily be in Mumbai for that. I guess all you guys all over the world, whoever reads this blog can take this forward, put it up on your blog and do your bit for our Mother Earth!

At Juhu Beach "Paint It Green" on the 9th
We made passerby paint a 25 metre long cloth with eco-friendly messages



Take A Stand on the 7th.
Shouting slogans. (Location: Link Rd, Andheri)


I have had a lot of fun doing this and we have a morcha or a procession leaving from my college till Lokhandwala in Andheri. It felt great shouting slogans that encouraged people to save water, plant more trees and to switch from normal bulbs to (Compact Fluorescent Light) CFL bulbs that use lesser energy.

Please guys do take this forward and spread the word to as many people as can!



Music: Eric Prydz vs Floyd - Proper Education
Posted by at

3 comments:

Nadim said...

switching off lights and switching on lights at the same time wiill mean a sudden and huge increase in load on the transformers.
it will only increase carbon emissions substantially. the stats provide only one side of the story. no one measured the carbon emissions that resulted due to the sudden increase in load.
ever wondered why power is restored in small groups after a outage? yes, not to increase load on transformers.
though the intention is right, the execution isnt. a better way is to incorporate energy saving habits in our day to day lives. as you have mentioned, florescent lights are a very good replacement for our power hungry conventional bulbs. we also need to change our lifestyles inorder to live. well, we will still live but our children wont. for example, if we go ahead and use water as we are using now, its almost certain that our children will kill each other for water.
your intentions are very good!
i hope more ppl will realise the urgency and act like you! and ya, good luck convincing ppl they need to come out of their comfort zone!

15 December 2007 at 02:30
--Sunrise-- said...

I learnt the same thing as Nadim in school.

I have a fluorescent light bulb in my room.. it's lovely. lol :-)

I agree with Nadim.. that a better way would be to do so in our daily lives.. but I guess events such as these raise awareness, so... *shrug*

This is an interesting post for me to read.. especially at this thime of the year, with Christmas, I mean... you should see some of the houses over here at Christmas time... so many bright pretty lights flashing around everywhere.. flashing Santas, reindeer and all that jazz..

It makes me think.. we must be wasting so much energy with all those lines.. but.. it's like a tradition.. it's what makes Christmas Christmas.. so where do we draw the line? Do we look at Christmas lights and think, "Oh, it's Christmas.. leave them be.." or do we say, "What are we doing? It's wasting so much energy.." (Well, "wasting" can be a subjective term in this case I guess.. is it 'wasting' when it gives a little child joy?)

15 December 2007 at 13:14
Trinnie said...

nadim: hey long time! where have u been?

this thing was unknown to me. thanks for letting me know. i do hope the team that visualised it must have thought of all this...

sunrise: im getting a CFL bulb for my room. in fact for all the rooms in my house. :D

the awareness part is very true. people have been pouring suport in. at least they acknowledge the efforts and are aware. it does make a wee bit of difference. u know u talk abt christmas there being all jazzy and bright. the same thing happens here in diwali. i feel its such a waste. worse is the firecrackers pollution and the awful noise they make! we learnt so much in school abt having a civic sense, not littering, being concerned abt animals during such festive occasions cause firecrackers hurt them too...but its no use!

so we either crib or do something abt it, like these men have done with batti bandh! :)

16 December 2007 at 12:13

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)