Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Lights out! That could be the most crippling predicament that residential consumers and businesses will have to wade through especially in the heat of the summer months.
But today, March 25, there will be a “moment of darkness” – but instead of triggering Filipinos to be hot under the collar, it will usher in hope for the future, especially in abating climate change risks and in viably preserving Planet Earth for the generations to come.
The spotlight will on the “Earth Hour,” which calls on all citizens of the world to switch off their lights and electronic gadgets for one hour — from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. — and will embrace that as an opportunity for action as well as to ponder on the significant contributions they can make to concretize the goal of taming global warming for humanity’s survival.
Framed under the theme “Biggest Hour for Earth,” WWF-Philippines, the prime mover for this movement, is also advocating for the “Earth Hour Virtual Run 2023” from March 25-April 30 this year. It is aimed at sustaining the momentum reinforcing awareness about climate change and how every individual, community, and organization can take a stand for the planet’s long-term health as well as on the bid for sustainable energy future.
In the country this year and onwards, the pervading scenario will be “tight power supply” and there could even be probabilities of rotational brownouts, hence, pressure abounds for all consumers to embrace energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) for their lifestyle changes.
Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla has been leading this track and whipping up the conversation on how avoiding wastage in electricity usage will be the country’s saving grace against a threatening full-blown energy crisis.
However, Filipinos still struggle on that journey not only in terms of appreciation and understanding; but more so in putting that into practice. Hence, that is a sphere where the government would still need to intensify its leadership call.
Beyond energy efficiency, other technology solutions are also dangled into the mainstream to underpin the country’s energy transition agenda – primarily massive scale renewable energy (RE) installations and electric vehicles deployment that will ultimately bring the Philippines into its net zero carbon emissions pathway.
Carbon-neutrality, as anchored on the “net-zero pledges” of many corporations, financial institutions and various industry chains, has been accelerating initiatives on the private sector side to lay down their own decarbonization targets rather than wait for governments to concretize bold steps for us to meet the 1. 5 degrees C limit on temperature rise so we can keep planet Earth a “liveable world” through generations.
As envisioned, financial reallocation to “green solutions” will not only require transformation and revolution in business approaches, rather, these could engender the birth and rise of new enterprises, such as on the sphere of digitalization and broader investments on cleaner energy technologies. That could create “green jobs” and opportunities for many people while the world trims overall carbon footprints.
Indeed, our devotion to the planet shall not just be confined to yearly participation in the “Earth Hour.” Instead, it should be our “stress test” that will constantly remind us to advance commitments and solutions toward an energy-secure and environment-friendly future.
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Credit belongs to : www.mb.com.ph
