I had a lot of time in my hands in the past weekend doing nothing in particular except for saving baby turtles from being eaten by nasty ants, so I thought of writing a lengthy post on why I liked the concept behind Earth Hour but in spite of that, why I thought the promotion of the awareness campaign had in fact given the whole event a bad name. But since there are already a handful or such blog posts floating around, I should just give that a miss. The “lengthy post” part, I mean.

To me, observing Earth Hour is pretty much like observing World Water Day on March 22nd, or observing Earth Day on April 22nd, or observing World Clean Up Day on the third weekend in September or even observing World Turtle Day on May 23rd, in that I don’t expect anything to happen in these days, but I kind of expect something good to come out of them. OK, expecting something good to turn up but not actually doing anything is not quite the right attitude, but you get what I mean?

Earth Hour should be treated like any other “world days” because it is just another awareness campaign. And awareness campaigns are supposed to educate the public about certain issues, and by creating, raising and spreading such awareness, we hope that the general public will do what they think is best — for themselves and for the environment.

For example, in my workplace, we carry out a lot of public awareness programs. I give talks about the (sad and sorry) plight of our turtles to the public who might not even appear to be interested in the first place. I tell them why our turtles are becoming extinct, and I tell them what THEY can do to help save our turtles. And not surprisingly, people find that kind of approach “friendly” because then, we toss the ball into their court, and THEY get to make the decision. An informed decision. Plus, I always tell people that our leatherback turtles are not coming back just because the sale of their eggs is prohibited. What we should indeed do is to protect the other turtles from going the way our leatherback turtles did by saving and conserving them. It is a long-term effort, no doubt, but then again, what isn’t?!

And like a lot of our turtle awareness programs, people don’t wake up in the morning and suddenly feel that they are more aware of the environment, or that they want to do something for the environment.

So if you want to do your part to slow down global warming, you should not only switch off your lights for an hour tonight. You should also:

• reduce, reuse and recycle
• use less heat and air-conditioning, whether at home or at the office
• drive less, or take a public transportation, or carpool
• buy only energy-efficient products and appliances
• switch off whatever products or appliances when not in use, the computer, the TV, the air-conditioning in your bedroom when you’re actually watching football in the living room, etc.

And more importantly, encourage your friends to do the same! :)

If there is one place in your house that you must go to more than twice daily, it must be the bathroom. So if there is one place in your house that you must spend more time greening, it should also be the bathroom :)

• Choose wood paneling for your bathroom to help keep in heat and reduce air pollution.
• Avoid using fiberglass because a lot of energy is wasted during fiberglass manufacture.
• Install a slow-flow shower head to help save water.
• Bathe your kids together in the same water rather than in separate tubs.
• Did you know that the average shower uses 80 liters (20 gallons) of water, compared to the 170 liters (40 gallons) that’s needed for a bath?
• Do not keep the shower water running when you’re not actually underneath the water.
• Use modern cisterns which dispense less water while flushing. If you do have an older one with large capacity, just drop a brick (or a bottle filled with water) inside to reduce the water content (thanks, Nicole!).
• Think about whether it’s necessary to flush the toilet every time you visit. Make a rule of thumb only to flush every other time you use the toilet.
• Buy recycled toilet paper. Or just use water (gulps).

How do YOU green your bathroom?

These are some green do-it-yourself tips that are particularly useful if you decorate your house by yourself (as opposed to paying a company or some contractors to do it). The common point behind these tips is that we should use less chemical products that are harmful to the environment:

• Never throw unwanted paint down the drain where it can cause chemicals to build up in waterways.
• Use a natural fibre brush and apply a little paint at a time to avoid dripping. No-drip paints may contain polyurethane, which is an environmental hazard.
• Use borax instead of fungicide in your paste if you are papering walls and want to stop mould and mildew growing on paper.
• Choose linoleum or other nature natural resources instead of vinyl flooring when covering your floor, because they contain PVC.
• Never use lead-base paints because lead is a toxic substance.

What other green DIY tips do you have?