BTW – Quick, Whip Out Your Torchlights! It's Earth Hour!

Just in case you’re out next Saturday evening and the world seems to plunge into darkness, don’t ask who turned off the lights….and no, it’s not a total lunar eclipse nor is it 2012 come early either. It’s Earth Hour.

Huh? And when is it not earth hour, we scratch our heads in wonder?

An initiative by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature – not World Wrestling Federation, dear), Earth Hour takes place on Saturday, 27 March at 8.30pm. It’s a global thing, and people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour at that time. It’s a worldwide symbolic event to show how we can make a difference in the fight against climate change and it involves individuals, businesses and organizations on a purely voluntary basis.

So just to give us all a much needed heads up so we don’t fly into a freaking panic in pure Auntie fashion next Sat night, just be prepared that hundreds of buildings will turn off non-essential lights at 8.30 pm. Here’s what to expect:

• Changi Airport will turn off decorative lights and dim many operational lights within the terminal buildings and malls; (we hope the runways remain brightly lit!)

• Resorts World Sentosa will dim or switch off selected non-essential lights (for a spot of trivia, we didn’t know that they use eco-coolers to cool outdoor areas at Universal Studios by two to six degrees using only 20% of the energy of conventional air-conditioning, or that they transplanted trees and corals to be green);

• In the central business district, important landmarks get dimmed out like The Merlion, The Singapore Flyer, Esplanade, The Fullerton Hotel, Clifford Pier and the Asian Civilizations Museum;

• Decorative lightings on the bridges, riverbank, lights on the steps and trees by the Singapore River will be switched off;

• Lights at all the major malls down Orchard Road and beyond, including Tampines Mall, Funan, Bugis, Compass Point, Marina Square, etc will be turned off or turned down and

• Street lights down Orchard Road will turn off for the hour.

In light of that, no pun intended, I’d drive really slowly if I were there, and bring along a torch light. How unglam, how ‘Auntie’, yet so confidentlaly, devil-may-care practical you’ll be the envy of all down the darkened streets.

If you’re inclined to join in with your own earth hour do, this may not be a bad time to dine at home via candlelight, light up the floating candles in your pool, break out the aromatherapy candles and slap on an organic mask for yourself, your pimply pre-teen and the reluctant hubs. Heck, or bring in your guests, rattle some hippy crystal beads, sip on organic (or not) wine and bay at the moon…So relaxing, so in tune with earth… so Gaia!

For details, or to pledge your green commitment, log onto http://www.earthhour.org/

- Ee Waun