So what's all the hype about the inaugural global election, happening tomorrow 28th March 09, about?
Some info on the 3rd Conference of Parties (COP)/Global Climate Change Conference - The Kyoto Protocol
- Officially adopted on 11 December 1990 in Kyoto, Japan
- An environmental agreement defined to cut down on the emissions of greenhouse gases and to achieve stabilisation of the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere, especially for industrialised countries
- The EU called for 15% cut in emission while the U.S, THE superpowernation , did not ratify this international treaty
- As of Feb '09, there are 181 signatories of the Kyoto Protocol
On the contrary, the Kyoto Protocol has not been contributing much to the whole issue of global warming - there wasn't any long-term goal set and it's contribution is highly likely "virtually nonexistent" (Robert N. Stavins, professor of business and government, 2002) (about 2% reductions ONLY till 2050 as predicted by Stavins).
Vote Earth/Earth Hour is reaching out to the whole world - it's about which planet (EARTH) you're from - so EVERYONE regardless of AGE, RACE, NATIONALITY, has a role to play. It'll encourage people to experience a paradigm shift that will change the way we think about the environment and consequently, how we behave to protect the planet we live on.
I personally feel that no excuses should be worthy for anyone's refusal to participate in this global election. Honestly, it's hard to do something BIG, especially if it concerns the environment 'cos there are bound to be skeptics, and I sincerely applaud the efforts and enthusiasm for the Earth Hour campaign hitherto.
So come on! Let's all do our part in voting for Earth so that the forthcoming COP in Copenhagen will be a success!
Some fun facts
- The voter turnout for the U.S 2008 presidential election was the highest in 40 years
- A total of 131,257,328 popular votes were casted in the aforementioned election
- In 2006, over 66,000,000 votes were casted for the season's American Idol (AMI) finale surpassing the total number of votes garnered for presidential elections previously
- Total population of the United States of America - 306,092,036 as of 27th March 2009 (The U.S POPclock)
- The world's total population is 6,769,329,253 as of 27th March 2009 (The U.S POPclock)
Now, you know statistics don't lie so let's play with these figures and have a mini Maths lesson with yours truly. Earth Hour's target is 1 billion votes (that's 1,000,000,000 in case you're wondering). Looks like a lot doesn't it? Look again and compare with the above figures.
Done comparing? No? I'll wait, no problem! Okay you're done? Great! So what are your findings? I'll share mine with you okay....
From the above figures, we can conclude that you only need 7.7 times the total number of popular votes casted for the U.S 2008's Presidential Election for the target of 1 billion votes to be reached. The number of votes casted for 2006's AMI finale was 50.3% that of the votes retrieved during the U.S 2008's Presidential Election. If the whole population of the most powerful nation takes part in this global election, i.e. Vote Earth, more than 30% of votes would have been reached. By then, only 70% of the world needs to give their vote of support AND please remember 1 billion is ONLY less than a sixth of the world's population! So you see, it's not that difficult to be a part of this. Let's put these figures away altogether and VOTE NONETHELESS! I am pretty sure more there will be more than 1 billion votes! (:
PLUS,
I'M HOT ENOUGH, so
VOTE EARTH/VOTONS POUR LA PLANETE/UNDILAH BUMI! (I like this quote from the campaign ze bestzxz heh heh heh - I think it's brilliant that they incorporated narcissism into the campaign considering how the global societies are becoming increasingly narcissistic (don't deny this, you're one of them! hehh) but that's gonna be a totally different issue and hopefully entry altogether!) Okay, okay, WE'RE ALL HOT ENOUGH so sign up
here now (too)!!! YOUR LIGHT SWITCH IS YOUR VOTE/L'INTERRUPTEUR C'EST TON VOTE/SWIS LAMPU ANDA MERUPAKAN UNDIAN ANDA!
Every vote counts!! And I'm really excited for tomorrow! I'm looking forward to satellite photos showing the world's contribution! It's gonna be nice to see every unit in the apartment opposite mine switch the lights off tomorrow! :)
On a slightly different but related nonetheless note...
The first Formula 1 race of the year is this weekend in Australia!! I'm excited and hope that Lewis Hamilton will give a stellar performance but wait... how much fuel do you think is being used up PER F1 season? There are 17 races for this year and F1 dates all the way back to 1947 and there are qualifying rounds and... Oh you do the Math!
Maybe we all should look forward to hydrogen-fueled race cars now so that we can all enjoy this sport still? Or we can all pay for the tickets to the races so we can off our google boxes instead? Hmm food for thought!
My last words? Off your lights tomorrow, lovelies! Remember, 28th March 2009, 8.30 - 9.30 pm!
