Save the Earth, Save Yourself

Pray: All the attendants close their eyes and pray for
one minute for the victims of Tsunami in Japan.

By Kim Yun



Kampar: 489 students gathered at the sport complex in University Tunku Abdul Rahman at 6pm on 25^th March to participate in the UTAR Earth Hour 2011 event. The event was organised by Community Service Society to show and make effort to contribute in saving the world.

The event started with a countdown to earth hour then followed by a speech by the president of the Community Service Society, Chai Wai Kit (21) who is also a Public Relations major.



“We are here today not to just have fun and watch performances. At the same time, we are contributing and helping to save the earth. The main objective of this event is to raise students’ awareness of climate change and to educate students on the threat of global warming,” said Chai.

“We, as students, should play our role in reducing the consumption of energy in order to save the earth. Whenever lights and fans are not in use, we should switch it off,” he added.


Each attendant was charged RM2 as an entrance fee. Attendants are given a door gift which includes a candle and card. The activities prepared by the club consisted of band performance, poppy dance and drum performance. An exclusive video made by UTAR student of earth hour was also shown. All these activities were conducted under the candle light from the audience.

Door gift given by the society.



Attendants light up the candle 
thatgiven by society.

Attendees were required to write their messages to the earth on a piece of paper. All the messages were tied together with a kongming lantern and was flown up to the sky as a form of praying. The sky lantern was then tied with a thread and being pulled down towards the end of the activity.

                 The members releasing the sky lantern which has messages from the attendees tied along to express their blessing for Tsunami Victims in Japan.

Yong Yih Huey

Jennifer Yong Yih Huey (24), one of the attendees of this event said that she felt shocked to see all the performances were conducted under the dim candle light. “However, I was touched by their effort spent in saving the usage of electricity and also for doing a good job in matching the theme of earth hour with the candle light idea,” she added. 

“I love the section of making the number 60. All of us cooperated well in that and I believe with this kind of spirit, UTAR students played their role very well in reducing the harm of global warming,” she commented.

Yong Pui Chee (24), another participant of the event said that the event was very meaningful and the effort of the organizer certainly paid off. 

“It has raised my concern about the seriousness of climate change drastically. I believe this earth hour event had the same impact on other attendants too,” she comprehended.

Xyn Hui Xin (21), the vice president of the club sent her gratitude to all the participants and urged everyone to switch off the lights on the official earth hour, 26^th March, 8.30pm to 10.30pm.

“The event was held successfully. I hope all the students received the message and will make an effort in reducing the usage of energy from this moment onwards. The effort should not be made only during earth hour but everyday in order to save our mother earth,” she emphasized.



All the participants held candles in their hand and created

 the number ‘60’ symbolising the logo of earth hour 

(picture adapted from J-on).