Turning off the lights across Japan
Cities across Japan and Asia turned off lights for two hours on Saturday night as part of a “Candle Night” campaign to bring awareness to energy waste and other environmental issues:
The movement was started in 2003 by Shinichi Tsuj, a professor at Meiji Gakuin University who wanted to bring attention to all the energy waste going on in the world:
Tsuji had an epiphany about 10 years ago when he came back to Japan after living in the United States and Canada. He said he was dismayed by “aesthetically ugly” rows of vending machines–a sight peculiar to Japan–that were chewing up huge amounts of electricity. Since then, he has never bought a drink from a vending machine and carries a bottle of water wherever he goes.
His concerns about energy wastage helped inspire the Candle Night initiative.
“Being able to consume as much electricity as we want has been considered a sign of wealth, and we’ve smiled at satellite photos of Japan’s city lights shining brightly,” Tsuji says. “But considering the Earth’s current state, consuming so much electricity is about the most destructive thing we can do.”
Tsuji says many Japanese have become wealthy at the expense of spending time with their families and friends, or even by themselves. “Turning off the lights, which you take for granted will always be there, may seem like a small action but it has wider significance,” he said at an office of a nongovernmental organization named Namakemono Kurabu (The Sloth Club) in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, that advocates energy-saving. The windows are usually left wide open in summer. Staff go about their work under a few lightbulbs.
This year, the Candle Night campaign will be extended through July 7 to raise public awareness of the environment up to the day the Group of Eight summit meeting begins in Toyakocho, Hokkaido.
“I believe it’s in human nature to look after our environment. We can’t afford to destroy Mother Earth or its ecosystem,” Tsuji says. “I hope Candle Night to will be an opportunity to remind people of that.”
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And then the amount of electricity consumed by re-starting all equipment creates shortages and collapses an the power grid. Costs more electrickery then letting the stuff all run on for 2 hours and is completely pointless.
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We had something like this in America one night. I think about 2 houses participated.
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Yes, the Japanese are so Eco concerned! They individually wrap each cookie or cracker in a package and sell special plastic garbage bags for burnable garbage, leaving normal bags wasting away in stores! Hypocritical bullshit!
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