Commemorating Earth Hour during Ramadan, YKAN and Senayan City Remind the Importance of a Sustainable Lifestyle

Senayan City and Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN) again held this year's Earth Hour commemoration on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Like the previous year's commemoration, Senayan City also carried out blackouts at several points in its shopping center from 20.30 to 21.30 WIB. Earth Hour is a global movement that invites people worldwide to turn off the lights for one hour as a symbol of awareness about climate change.

Before turning off the lights, Senayan City and YKAN held a Dialog Konservasi entitled 'One Hour for the Earth,' which discussed efforts to preserve nature by reducing the carbon footprint of daily life. "It is imperative to raise this theme because we increasingly feel the impacts of climate change. Such as droughts, land fires, major floods, and unstoppable heat waves occur. "Almost all regions on earth are feeling the impact of climate change," said Ratih Loekito, Director of Development & Marketing at YKAN.

For this reason, to coincide with the Earth Hour moment, YKAN, together with Senayan City, invites the public to adopt a more environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle, namely living life with full awareness and thinking long term, because they realize that almost all actions taken will have an impact on the environment and people around. "How do you do it? For example, you can get used to using public transportation. "Then don't consume too much energy, learn to manage household waste and the like," explained Selvyn, Center Director of Senayan City.

According to Ratih Loekito, carbon footprint measures the amount of emissions or greenhouse gases from various human activities within a certain period. She added that These carbon emissions arise throughout the life cycle, from production activities, transportation, and product use to disposal. "The higher the activity a person carries out, the higher the carbon footprint that will be produced and the greater the impact on the environment," she said.

Carbon footprints can also result from food consumption patterns. Moreover, with so many food choices in the month of Ramadan, the problem of food waste is increasing. Organic waste makes our Earth hotter because it produces methane gas, the most dangerous greenhouse gas. "We often have hungry eyes. "Buy a lot of food but don't eat it; in the end, it becomes food waste," said Dionysius Subali, a Sports Nutrition Lecturer.

The carbon footprint can be reduced by implementing an environmentally friendly lifestyle, and collective awareness is needed because this effort cannot produce a visible impact.

Eyes in a short period. Reducing the carbon footprint on Earth takes time and joint efforts. "Basically, big changes always start with small steps from individuals, and we can start now," said Kevin Liliana, Miss Indonesia for the Environment 2017.

Apart from holding Dialog Konservasi, Earth Hour moments were also used for joint Poundfit activities guided by Pound Pro Trainers. Senayan City itself commemorates Earth Hour every year. "During a power outage, we also invite visitors to stay for a moment as a symbolic step to reduce emissions," concluded Selvyn, Center Director of Senayan City.