Earth Hour

Maaf, saya tidak akan menganjurkan mematikan lampu malam ini. Tidak sebelum saya menyelesaikan tulisan ini.
Tahukah kamu sisi lain dari Earth Hour?

• sebagian besar lilin dibuat dari parafin, yang juga berasal dari hidrokarbon dan menghasilkan emisi karbondioksida. Berapa juta lilin yang dinyalakan malam ini?
  
• kita menghabiskan satu jam dalam gelap yang nyaman, dengan tombol lampu hanya sejauh jangkauan tangan. Bagaimana jika menghabiskan satu bulan tanpa pendingin, kulkas dan penerangan?
• The carbon sense coalition menginginkan 'earth hour' diganti dengan 'blackout night' dan dilakukan di hari terpendek dan terdingin dalam setahun.
• Bjorn Lomborg, penulis The Skeptical Environmentalist menulis, "It is vital to make solar and other new technology cheaper than fossil fuels quickly so we can turn off carbon energy sources for a lot longer than one hour and keep the planet running...Fossil fuels literally gave us an enlightenment, by lighting our world and giving us protection from the fury of the elements. It is ironic that today's pure symbolism should hark back to a darker age."
• berkumpulnya orang-orang untuk berpartisipasi dalam acara Earth Hour di kota masing-masing, akan menghasilkan keramaian dan kemacetan yang mungkin akan menambah emisi karbon.
  

Jadi, mematikan lampu sejam.
Apa gunanya?

Well, sebenarnya mirip berpuasa, kalau saya bilang.
Apa gunanya berpuasa, toh setelah maghrib kita kembali makan minum dan have sex, err make love. >.<
Tapi ada yang bilang dengan berpuasa kita tau apa yang dirasakan sodara-sodara kita yang kesulitan dan kekurangan.
Atau dengan berpuasa kita melatih kontrol diri ketika sangat menginginkan sesuatu yang tidak boleh diinginkan .
Atau dengan berpuasa kita lebih humble dan simple.
Atau dengan berpuasa kita semakin kurus dan pengeluaran belanja bisa dihemat, asal buka puasanya ngga neko-neko.

Hmm...jadi kangen bulan puasa...
Heheh ^^

Jadi, apakah sejam mematikan lampu terlalu dirasa bull@#$^ sampai menghalangi kita melakukannya? Atau kita termasuk yang ngga suka ikut-ikut dan lebih suka 'melawan arus'? Kalo ingin melawan arus, lawanlah arus penggunaan bahan bakar fosil dengan tidak menggunakan kendaraan bermotor dan, well, kejutan, tidak menggunakan listrik selama lebih dari sejam.
Bagaimana dengan earth month? Satu bulan? Bisa? Saya sih ngga. Kalo mati lebih dari 6 jam disini sih sering. Apalagi daerah-daerah terpencil yang belum tersentuh PLN.
Lakukan dengan tidak bekerja di perusahaan pertambangan yang meratakan hutan-hutan di Kalimantan (termasuk suami saya berarti...).
Lakukan itu dan kita sangat boleh berbangga hati tidak ikut mematikan lampu malam dari jam 20.30-21.30 waktu lokal malam ini.

Satu jam yang simbolik memang. Tapi satu jam lebih baik dari tidak sama sekali. Dan satu jam yang sebaiknya diikuti dengan pemikiran-pemikiran baru untuk ke depan.
Pengolahan sampah. *Dimas aja tau mbuang sampah sembarangan itu ngga boleh, "Joyokk!!"
Penyerapan air tanah.
Penanaman pohon dan lahan hijau.
bla bla bla...

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse.

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above earth or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream, down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face and I...

Tears stream, down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face and I...

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

Dan siapa tau, mind over matter berlaku malam ini.
Ketika jutaan pikiran berfrekuensi sama untuk menyelamatkan Ibu Bumi dan Ibu Alam, siapa tau, we will fix Her.

So, lets be positive. Think about earth healing and world peace tonight.

Who Will Save Your Soul?

Chilling and horrible thoughts.

Harvard fellow's modest proposal: starve the Gazans and their babies.

Barbara Brown wrote of Apartheid South Africa:

' [White] South Africans who express a [concern with Black population growth] perceive a close relationship between population growth rates and political instability. There are two variants of this approach. The first holds that a growing black and unemployed population will mean increased poverty which will in turn lead to a black revolt. . .

In an opening address to a major private sector conference on 'population dynamics' in South Africa, the president of the 1820 Foundation argued that 'Rapid population growth translates into a steadily worsening employment future, massive city growth . . . and an increase in the number of poor and disadvantaged. All are rightly viewed as threats to social stability and orderly change.'

A second, but smaller, group believes the black threat arises simply out of the changing ratio of white to black. This group sees that 'THE WHITES ARE A DWINDLING MINORITY IN THE COUNTRY' and argues that this situation will lead to a 'similar reduction of white political authority'.

Some argue for birth control on even more overtly racist grounds, but few people in leadership positions do so, at least publicly. Debates in the House of Assembly have included remarks to the effect that blacks are unable to make a contribution to South African society and so should be encouraged to limit their numbers. The organiser of a 'Population Explosion' conference, a medical doctor who is deputy director of the Verwoerd Hospital, argued that whites must organise a family planning programme for blacks because the latter group is biologically incapable of exercising foresight.'

- Barbara B. Brown, "Facing the 'Black Peril': The Politics of Population Control in South Africa," Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2(Jan., 1987), pp. 256-273, this quote pp. 263-64.

A brillian piece from Leila.

The ghastliness of it all was best summed up by an exchange between the mock Dan Halutz and Doron Almog to the real Martin Kramer on Twitter:

danhalutz RT @doronalmog: @DanHalutz Remember that time u, me, & @Martin_Kramer debated @Harvard over drinks on how to get rid of those superfluous Gazans? Good times

danhalutz @DoronAlmog Of course! @Martin_Kramer was all about the “pro-natal subsidies” and you just wanted to bulldoze those Gazans. Me, I like F16s

danhalutz @Martin_Kramer Dear Sir: I admire your brilliant ideas but fear ending pronatal subsidies will not eliminate superfluous Arabs fast enough.

danhalutz @Martin_Kramer: I say replace ‘pronatal’ subsidies with ‘pro-morbid’ ones: cluster bombs, white phosphorus, napalm. Let’s co-author a paper!