EARTH HOUR Is Today!

Bring a CANDLE and if possible, a musical instrument.

Invitation From Alexyz...

Now Alexyz extends an invitation in his own unique style...

Earth Hour: 1 Day Left To Switch Off

Saturday, 23 March 2013
8:30-9:30 pm

Lourdes Convent Open Air Courts

Saligao.  Goa.

(Bring a candle and a musical instrument, if possible)

Earth Hour in India

The Journey so far

India joined the Earth Hour movement in 2009, where 5 million Indians across 56 cities showed their support by switching off non essential lights and saving approximately 1000 MW of power in that one hour. Hundreds on educational institutions, 100 top public and private sector organizations, and governments of various cities participated.

In the last three years, the campaign has grown into a national movement supported by individuals, local governments, private and public sector organizations, and institutions. In 2011, individuals across 130 Indian cities participated and committed to a better lifestyle, adhering to the new phase of the campaign going beyond the hour. Over 1,000,000 students joined the movement as young environmentalists. Earth Hour penetrated beyond the urban and educated masses alone, witnessing participation from tier II and III cities, and villages with no access to basic energy requirements.

Local governments and state and city officials inspired citizens to observe Earth Hour leading by example, and switching off lights in State Chief Ministers residents and important landmarks across the state. Reiterating India’s sincere commitment towards environment conservation, the Rashtrapati Bhawan also switched off lights, so did the Prime Ministers’ residence.

In 2012, Earth Hour reached more than 150 Indian cities, and touched important milestones. For the first time ever, the iconic Mysore palace observed Earth Hour by reducing the duration of illumination of the Palace on weekends from 15 minutes to 5 minutes. This symbolic gesture sent out a powerful message not only to the citizens of the city and country, but to the thousands of international tourists who visit the Palace to witness this magnificent illumination.

The campaign has been endorsed by well known celebrities such as Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Sachin Tendulkar, Rana Dagubatti, the Royal Challengers cricket team, Chennai film actor and singer Dhanush, Kolkota film actor Rituparna Sengupta, who all helped increase outreach by appealing to their fans and followers to participate.

In Goa, from 2010, this is the 4th year running, Earth Hour is being organised in Saligao.

And finally...
All you ever wanted to know about Earth Hour and did not whom to ask: http://earthhour.in/faq.aspx

Be there!

Earth Hour Team
Saligao.

Dear Chief Minister, Saligao MLA & Sarpanch...

Dear Manoharbhav, Dilip and Eknath,

As a team who are all in the same party and on the same page, we in Saligao expect much from the 3 of you for Earth Hour 2013 and towards establishing Renewable Energy solutions to our problematic power supply.

For a start you can switch off all non-essential lights, from 8:30-9:30 pm in the state...beginning with Saligao's church and temple exterior illumination.  Surely, a combination of the 3 of you can ensure this tiny measure.

Second...slowly phase out Saligao's connection to the grid.  Make this a FIRST in Goa! Starting with the Panchayat building, all street lighting and finally public illumination switch Saligao totally to Renewable Energy using a combination of solar, biomass and wind energy: 

- Do away with the garbage dump on our hill that is destroying our village and use all our hills for wind turbines (windmills).
- Use all our biodegradable waste in a biomass plant to create additional power.
- Use Saligao's solar energy to complete our electricity needs.
A combination of these 3 Renewable Energy measures will first supply all our public and later private energy needs. 

Unless we make efforts to transform our energy production systems to 100% renewable, we may do irreversible damage to our planet.

Earth Hour 2013

How our government can help...

Mae de Deus Church, Saligao.

Switch off 
 
Lead by example! Make sure you switch off lights in your Chief Ministers house, local leaders, and all government office buildings on Saturday, 23rd March from 8:30 - 9:30 PM. Send out communication to ensure all important landmarks in our state switch off for Earth Hour.
Spread the message 
 
Write to all utilities, market associations, schools and other stakeholders informing them about your support to Earth Hour and asking them to spread the message through their mediums.

Join hands
Our teams are present across India, working to spread the message of Earth Hour. Join hands with our local Earth Hour team in your state and jointly organize events and press conferences, appealing to the citizens to participate.

Advertise
Send out a public appeal and advertisement in the leading newspapers of your city, asking citizens to switch off lights for Earth Hour. Put up hoardings in bus shelters and other prominent places in the city about Earth Hour.

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Switch On to Renewable Energy
Contribute towards achieving India’s Renewable Energy targets!

• Adopt policies favorable to production of Renewable Energy to meet the power demands of Goa.
• Direct all government owned buildings and city monuments to adopt renewable energy solutions.
• Adopt Renewable Energy solutions and interlink renewable energy technologies such as waste to energy for all city infrastructures such as solar street lighting.
• Secure finances through the central government to implement renewable energy projects our state. Alternately, you can also secure international funding by generating carbon credits through implementing Renewable Energy projects.

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Light up a monument in Goa using Renewable Energy...begin with Mae de Deus Church, Saligao.

You can send out a strong message of your commitment towards building a sustainable future for your citizens, by organizing an Earth Hour event around an iconic monument in your city, using only Renewable Energy to power and light the venue. As a symbolic show of support, light up part of the monument after the switch off, using Renewable Energy powered products such as solar lanterns, and use this public event to announce a commitment towards adopting measures which would benefit the environment.
Warm regards and solidarity.

The Earth Hour Team in Saligao.

EARTH HOUR: 2 Days To Go.

How you can help:

With your friends and neighbours, join others at:

Lourdes Convent Open Air Courts, Saligao
on 23 March from 8:30-9:30 pm.

From the Earth Hour website...

Switch off!
On Saturday, 23rd March 2013, wherever you are, switch off lights for Earth Hour from 8:30 – 9:30 PM, and stand united with millions of others across the globe! Make sure your participation counts, by signing up

Spread the word
Help us reach out to your friends and families by talking about Earth Hour, and encouraging them to participate! Join our communities to keep up with latest news, events and activities, and make sure you share them with others.

Talk about it
If you write a blog, or own a website, tell others what you are doing for Earth Hour this year, and why you believe your actions can make a different to this planet! Through your actions, you can inspire many others to follow in your footsteps, and start a movement right where you are!

Become an organizer:
Don’t stop at just switching off lights at home! You can organize Earth Hour events to encourage your friends, family, and neighbours to participate. Start a signature campaign asking people to pledge their support, organize awareness marches around your locality, and distribute Earth Hour collaterals to your nearby market place. Encourage individuals to come together on the Earth Hour night to switch off collective, and celebrate with the world.

Write to earthhour@wwfindia.net for more ideas and assistance.

Know more
 
Volunteer
You can get in touch with the local WWF team in your city, and help them promote the campaign in your city. We are always looking for young and enthusiastic individuals to help us raise awareness and spread the message!

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Switch On to Renewable Energy
This year, go one step further! Little things you do can go a long way in reducing your impact on the environment. Opt for easy and practical Renewable Energy solutions!

• Adopt solar powered household products to not only reduce your footprint on the environment, but also bring down your electricity bills! From simple products such as solar powered batteries, solar calculators, solar lanterns to outdoor solar lighting for pathways and gardens, and solar water heaters and fans, there are a range of products now available in the Indian market!
• You can install Photovoltaic (PV) panels on the rooftop of your house which convert solar radiations directly into electricity, and can support part of your energy needs.
• Use your kitchen organic waste to produce biogas that can be used for cooking in the kitchen. Creating mini biogas plants at home can be easy and safe!
• Constructing a new house or renovating? This could be your chance to use renewable energy to the maximum! Get your architect, landscape designer, and electrician, plumber, and energy consultants together, and ask for a design of a green building. The construction and operation of green buildings minimizes demand on non-renewable resources and maximizes the use of renewable sources such as solar and solar thermal, as well as reuse and recycle available resources. Green buildings may be expensive to construct, however, that cost is recovered in the long run due to much lower operation costs.

Warm regards and solidarity.

M&M.

Illegal Slaughter House Endangers Saligao Community

by Community Correspondent Sulochana Pednekar 
with Lara Chandni 

(Saligao's sordid piggy story unfolds as a grassroots community correspondent investigates the problem with her video camera...)

In Saligao village at Donvaddo, there is a drain alongside the road which lies clogged with the blood and entrails of slaughtered pigs. For many years now, the area’s local piggery has been a source of serious emotional and material distress to its neighbours.

Aside from the insupportable stench of excreta, rotting offal and the flamboyant disregard for any considerations of hygiene, the squeals of dying pigs at odd hours during the day are traumatising the entire community. This is especially disturbing in light of the slaughterhouse’s proximity to a school. Situated only 100 metres away is Lourdes Convent, and everyday its 1,600 young students have to jeopardise their physical and mental wellbeing in order to attend class.

Sulochana was shocked by the very experience of filming: “Even when I was moving around the area to record my video, the smell was unbearable. The owners themselves live in extremely unhygienic conditions. The drain is a breeding ground for mosquitoes; the organic waste used to feed the pigs attracts hoards of flies and cockroaches. Rodents also infest the area. To makes this worse, crows and eagles pick up rotting pig entrails and spread them all over the village, putting the whole community at risk.” Needless to say, this entire operation is illegal.

The Goa Animal Preservation Act of 1995 lays down some very stringent regulations for the meatpacking industry. In section 4 of the Act it is stipulated that, "no person shall slaughter or cause to be slaughtered any scheduled animal in any place in the state of Goa, unless he has obtained in respect of such animal, a certificate in writing from the competent authority that the animal is fit for slaughter". With its qualified staff and equipment, the Goa Meat Complex is the sole establishment which satisfies all requisites for the scientific and hygienic slaughter of animals. It charges private meat vendors a total of Rs. 400 for outsourcing their work.

Notwithstanding, there are at least 20–30 illicit abattoirs to be found in the state. In January of this year, authorities intercepted a truck transporting 42 pigs from Belgaum to Goa, and 8–10 animals are killed daily at the slaughterhouse in Saligao. The number can rise to 25 on weekends. This routine massacre has exposed the entire neighbourhood to various health hazards. While the worst affected are women and children who stay home during the day or attend school at Lourdes Convent, the situation is bad enough to trouble even a passersby.

Apart from the unsanitary and often imaginary disposal of animal offal, the locality is plagued by other unsavoury by-products of the business. Hotel garbage is brought in by the truckload to feed the pigs and then left to fester and decompose before being burnt. This residual waste often contains a lot of plastic, and the fumes emitted from its incineration pollute the entire atmosphere. The inferno then plays itself out to the grizzly soundtrack of pigs screaming from being shifted or slaughtered, from 5:00am to 8:00am and then again at night.

There have been several initiatives taken up by the community to request the owners to follow official guidelines in operating their business. The residents even tried to enlist the help of the parish priest in maintaining some semblance of hygiene in the area. All pleas have, however, fallen on deaf ears. The family remains staunch in its refusal to acknowledge its toxic effect on the environs. Through this video we hope to attract the attention of the Health Department, so that it can take appropriate action against the owners and put an end to their illegal and unsanitary activities.

The demands of the residents are fairly straightforward:

-  The Health Department should conduct regular inspections of the piggery and enforce a strict adherence to government regulations. The import and slaughter of pigs and the burning of waste must be in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2000.

-  The Panchayat or Village Council should also inspect the compound on a regular basis and ensure an observance of protocol through its Garbage Sub-Committee.

-  The local Panch member, Sarpanch (Headman) and MLA of the region should ascertain that these inspections and enforcements are carried out smoothly. Action needs to be taken immediately and effectively at the level of the Health Ministry and the Cabinet.

(ends)

42 Pigs Rescued In Daring Night Chase

Watch the Official Earth Hour Video...Now!

Dear Earth Lovers, Carers, Savers!

Earth Hour 2013, 8:30 PM Saturday 23 March.

Earth Hour has grown from a one-city initiative in 2007 to the world's largest campaign for the planet, uniting hundreds of millions of people across 7001 cities and towns in 152 countries and territories.

Saligao, Goa, India is one of them. 

For the last 3 years, people from other villages have joined local Saligaokars to celebrate Earth Hour at the Lourdes Convent Open Air Courts.

The official 2013 video features the track "Without You" by David Guetta and Usher, providing an upbeat soundtrack to match the celebration of this year's event across the world.

Earth Hour's mission is to unite people to protect the planet, so go beyond the hour and upload your I Will If You Will challenge to www.YouTube.com/EarthHour. Dare the World to Save the Planet.

See you there on Saturday!

M&M.

EARTH HOUR 2013

To all you 'Earth Lovers' out there...

Across the globe, at the same time each year, people switch off lights for 60 minutes, and celebrate EARTH HOUR.  We have been meeting at Lourdes Convent Open Air Courts in Saligao for the past 3 years to celebrate Earth Hour and "unite with people around the globe, to protect the planet."

The tradition continues in 2013:
- 23 March. 
- Same place. 
- Same time...8:30-9:30 pm.

Poster

Switch off your lights at home and be at Lourdes Convent at 8:30 sharp!  Bring a candle, solar powered lamp and musical instrument if possible.

Earth Hour At Lourdes Convent Open Air Courts

Spend an hour with earth lovers worldwide. 

Spend 60 minutes with the earth you love so much.
Spend 3600 seconds caring for it; loving it; protecting it; saving it.
Spend quality time...just celebrating our Earth!

See you there!

Tarika Kiran
Suhail Kiran
Saligao.