The KL Tower welcomed 80 guests atop its Open Deck to witness the significant event. The guests from government agencies, corporations and the media watched the Petronas Twin Towers and other buildings in KL, Petaling Jaya and even Genting Highlands switch off their non-essential lights.
Beautiful: It was a party-like athmosphere at CapSquare where participants were entertained with games and performances by local celebrities
The event began at 8pm as Malaysian celebrity Lina Teoh welcomed guests and later headed the countdown when four KL Tower base jumpers performed their feat for the launch of Earth Hour.
For an entire hour, guests enjoyed their meal amid darkness while listening to live Malay traditional music provided by the KL Tower.
The Federal Territories Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib said this year was the just the beginning for more events in the future.
“More than 50 government buildings from KL have joined in the Earth Hour and even the Cabinet agrees that it is an important event for the earth’s conservation,” Ahmad Phesal said.
Doing my bit: A supporter signing his pledge to conserve the environment at Sunway Pyramid.
For World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)’s chief operating officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma, the journey for Earth Hour was made a little easier by the co-operation from all spheres.
“When we started, we wanted three main organisations to join in — the government, corporations and the public. They have all proved to be very helpful,” Sharma said.
“Few people were sceptical about the event, asking how much energy we can conserve but it is more than that. It is the awareness that people have about the climate change,” he added.
McNeil: ‘We must try not to indulge too much and live on appropriate portions.’
To pledge your support or find out details on how to save energy, log on to www.earthhour.org/malaysia.
At CapSquare in Kuala Lumpur, some 2,000 participants from all ages joined in the fun by signing up in the Walk of Hope minutes before the countdown began.
Dressed in similar black T-shirts and armed with a candlelight each, the participants walked along the 500m route accompanied by a marching band together with the Charm All-Stars Cheerleaders.
“The Walk of Hope idea was initiated to gather as many people as possible to send a message and make a stand against global warming and preserving the Earth for generations to come,” said BRDB senior manager Wayne Wong.
Wong added that tickets sales from the walk would be donated to WWF-Malaysia in its efforts against global warming.
At 8.30pm, the crowd cheered and partied in the dark as they were entertained with a host of low-powered shows which included an 18-prosperity drums ensemble, a fire-eating show, rhythm tap dancing as well as singing performances by various local artistes and ambassadors.
Besides that, an all-day Eco Bazaar was held selling clothes, accessories together with environment-friendly groups like the Malaysian Nature Society, Wild Asia, WWF and Rakan Muda-Eco Wing.
At the Starhill Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, YTL Corporation Berhad held an Earth Hour celebration at Shook! The event started with the countdown by the Tree Theatre Group followed by a story-telling session by Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and performances by Sean Ghazi, Deanna Yusoff, Jes Ebrahim and Wayang Lampu by Five Arts Centre.
A welcoming address was given by YTL Corporation director of investments Ruth Yeoh, who was very passionate about the effort.
“In taking the logical step to not only be a part of the Earth Hour and celebrating it as well, we have looked how technology has made our lives more comfortable.
At the event, the YTL Green Ribbon Award prize was presented to SM Sains Kuala Selangor, SM Assunta and SM Damansara Damai, who received RM3,000, RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively.
At the Westin Hotel KL, StarMetro spoke to guest Susannah McNeil, 41, from Australia.
McNeil said education was an important way to teach people about the environment.
“It is nice to see even Westin getting behind this effort. We must try not to indulge too much and live on appropriate portions, which is just one of the ways we can help save the environment,” she said.
The hotel switched off its exterior signage lighting; dimmed non-essential interior lighting and used candlelight in public areas such as restaurants and bars to create the illuminating atmosphere.
At Mont’Kiara, children and adults alike waved their glow sticks and torchlights in sync with the Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam’s (Yawa) Eco Drum Circle performance, which artfully used recyclable objects like bins and bottles to create rhythmic beats.
The show was featured as part of the Earth Hour celebration at the Sunrise Fun Zone Community Centre.
Students from Global Issues Network at Mont’Kiara International School put up a simple play using glow sticks to form a globe and other props to demonstrate the effects of global warming and ways to save the planet, and gave an a-capella rendition of Joni Mitchel’s Big Yellow Taxi.
Other performances included a Taiko Drums ensemble comprising residents and Sunrise employees, and visitors singing in unison to Michael Jackson’s Earth Song.
Before the actual “lights off” hour, visitors took the opportunity to visit the several interactive eco booths where they learnt how to make natural potpourri and ‘exotic salad’ (rojak).
Supporting partners like Yawa distributed little plants for people to take home as part of its adopt-a-tree programme, while Justlife Group Sdn Bhd educated visitors about the benefits and process of making garbage enzyme.
The children took part in fun activities like painting eco bags and T-shirts, making edible dough flowers and getting a hands-on approach in gardening.
Insurance agent S. Hariharan brought his three children along to educate them about the environment.
“They already separate their garbage at home and witnessed first-hand what happens at the recycling centre. My son, Sri Ram, is very excited about the plant he got from Yawa and looks forward to seeing it grow,” said the Mont’Kiara resident.
Furniture outlet IKEA joined in the support for the event by turning off all non-essential lights in the IKEA Restaurant.
The lights on the facade of the store in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, were also turned off.
IKEA Malaysia general manger Joseph Lau hoped that their actions would inspire people to take practical actions to support the initiative and reduce their own carbon footprints.
MixFM announcer Serena C and the Roadrunners crew were at hand to entertain customers and play games an hour before the lights went out.
At 8.30pm, IKEA managers and employees walked around the restaurant to place lamps on the tables so that diners could enjoy their dinner by candlelight.
The KL Stompers put up a live percussion performance with IKEA products.
To further spread the message, there were special offers on energy-saving bulbs and products.
Social and environment manager Ben Chong said the company used these bulbs where possible and had installed extra insulation to save energy on cooling.
“Here, we have water tanks installed in the building to accumulate rainwater for the sewage system, general cleaning and to flush the toilets.
“Our toilets are equipped with motion censors to save electricity when no one is using it,” he said.
He said so far, they had saved up to 13% on energy consumption compared with 2007.
At Sunway Pyramid, more than 500 people took part in the event. For the first time, Sunway Pyramid’s iconic lion head, Egyptian-style facade and street lighting were turned off.
Sunway resort Hotel and Spa turned off non-essential lights while the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park switched off lights at the pedestrian, palm trees, volcano and Wild Wild West. Sunway Medical Centre also turned off their facade lighting.
WWF Malaysia conservation director Dr Arun Venkataraman was proud that Malaysians were doing their part to support Earth Hour.
“Such concerted efforts to address climate change are urgent and crucial. According to climate modelling, may countries including Malaysia will experience significant future rainfall changes.
“(Therefore,) A Malaysian commitment to mitigate climate change will not only contribute towards reducing the global impact, but also help to ensure water and climate security for many future generations of Malaysians,” he said.
Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh, who officiated at the launch said: “Some may question the effectiveness of Earth Hour. The idea of turning off electricity for just an hour once a year seems silly, but what they don’t realise is the meaning behind the action. Our celebration today goes beyond turning off lights; it’s about our realisation of the current state of the environment,” she said.
Sunway University College students, led by Sunway Idol Benjamin Lin, sung Michael Jackson’s Heal The World. There was also an Earth Hour Poem recited by 14-year-old student Aina Nabilah, a Storm performance and song performances from the SMK Bandar Sunway special students.
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