The mayor of Malaysian capital city Kuala Lumpur has made a unique offer to the city's business: if enough turn off their lights for Earth Hour on Saturday, he'll introduce new and safe cycling routes.
The Sun Daily's Zaim Zamani reports that Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib said that when Kuala Lumpur City Hall launched the city's participation in Earth Hour in 2013, 86 buildings participated. In 2014 that rose to to 277 buildings.
"So for year 2015, I have set a target of getting 350 buildings to join the Earth Hour campaign, and if this target is achieved, they will be rewarded," Ahmad Phesal said.
Earth Hour aims to highlight the dangers of climate change with a symbolic hour of darkness starting at 8:30 pm local time on Saturday March 28. It was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has grown to include around 7,000 cities in more than 162 countries and territories around the world.
The mayor also said that he encourages all the building owners in Kuala Lumpur, as well as individuals, to switch off their lights for Earth Hour.
"I sincerely urge all other organisations and individuals to pledge their support for Earth Hour 2015 and be connected with the global community in creating a sustainable world," he added.
Rewarding environmental activism with safe cycling facilities is an unusual tactic, but it is at least an improvement on the attitude of some British politicians.
In 2012 politicians including Malcolm Rifkind MP said that bike paths shouldn't be built until cyclists behave better, an attitude that Carlton Reid pointed out mysteriously fails to apply to roads and drivers.
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
3 thoughts on “Kuala Lumpur mayor pledges bike lanes for Earth Hour switch-off”
Malaysia is a lovely place,
Malaysia is a lovely place, and the people are nice too.
I’ve been jogging the the high heat/humidity but not cycling….
But thinking about it, what a perfect combination because there’s definitely something good to eat there (cake and non-cake), and cake/desert is just one of the perks of cycling 😀
But one thing…the rain. I have seen rain that I have seen no-where else, coming down in such volumes that you just see white. We had to pull up on the side as we couldn’t drive. And lightning too…
I spent a week in KL on
I spent a week in KL on business a few years ago and didn’t see a single bike. Walking round the city proved hard enough with hardly any places to cross the road. Car culture has definitely taken over so this is a good thing.
An ex-pat contact I met out there was a member of a cycling club so I guess he had adapted to riding in the extreme heat and humidity. I might try a ride with him if I get back out there for long enough.
When I spent a week in KL in
When I spent a week in KL in 1997 there were no pavements, let alone cycle paths. Apart from a small part of the old town it was impossible to walk around. All the shops apart from the shophouses were in airconditioned shopping malls, so there was next to nothing to see walking around anyway. The driving was the sort of terrifying nightmare experience you only get where everyone is a first generation driver. So this is good news.