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Greetings, Indonesia. Earth Hour will kick off tonight at 8:30 p.m. and end at 9:30 p.m. At this time, people are encouraged to turn off their lights to promote sustainable use of resources and create greater awareness of climate change.

Organized by the World Wildlife Fund, Indonesia is among 110 countries officially participating in Earth Hour 2010. But are Indonesians planning to participate during the global event? Here’s what some of them had to say.

Ratih Anggun

Ratih, 19, is a student at the University of Indonesia. She learned about Earth Hour from watching TV and surfing the Internet. She says she is planning to participate and is looking forward to spending an hour without light.

“I could spend time with family at home and we could hang out together and use candles, which is kind of romantic,” she said.

Energy conservation was an important issue to Ratih even before she heard about Earth Hour.

“We should always unplug chargers and I always turn off the lights when I am about to go out,” Ratih said. “The only problem for me is turning off the air conditioner because I can’t stand the heat.”

Ratih said she also believed that the global event, however short, is an effective way to save energy and resources.

“Turning on the lights mean we are using energy, because PLN [state electricity utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara] processes energy from the coals using generators. The excessive use of energy is bad because it encourages global warming.”

Dian Achdiani

Dian, 40, is a mother of three who lives in Buah Batu, Bandung. As an active Internet user, Dian said that she has been aware of Earth Hour for the past two years.

She said she’ll be participating just like she did last year, but not necessarily as part of some greater cause. “At my house, my kids go to bed at 8, so everything is turned off already,” Dian said.

She added that she has mixed feelings about Earth Hour. Plagued by power outages in the past, she is more interested in seeing PLN provide reliable electrical service.

“It’s already more than a year since I had a blackout at home, but some areas in Bandung still have them,” Dian said, adding that she thinks that the concept of Earth Hour will be difficult to accept for people in Indonesia who still experience power shortages on a regular basis.

“I’ve got friends outside of Java who complain about frequent blackouts in their area and they can’t do activities properly,” she said. “I think that’s unfair for them.”

At her home, there have not been any discussions about Earth Hour, but Dian said that she has always taught her children to use electricity sparingly.

Jensen Yermi

Jensen, 29, a resident of Jayapura, Papua, said he deals with disruptive blackouts every day. He refuses to participate in Earth Hour.

“Turn it on! Why should we support Earth Hour if we have blackouts every day?” he said, adding that the outages often last for as much as 12 hours.

Jensen said he is offended with the ads on TV promoting Earth Hour, which feature celebrities and politicians imploring the audience to switch off their lights for the good of the planet.

He said he was not amused with the idea of Earth Hour in Indonesia because he already spends much of his time in the dark, sometimes twice a day.

“For a country that cuts down the trees and burn forests, there are a lot of options to save nature rather than by turning off the lights,” Jensen said.

He referred to an article he read online stating that if 10 percent of Greater Jakarta’s 22 million residents turned off their electricity for an hour, it would reduce pollution by more than 200 tons of carbon dioxide.

“I suggest Earth Hour for Jakarta residents only,” he said.

Wisnu Wicaksono

Wisnu, 26, said he learned about Earth Hour on the TV and radio, but was still a little fuzzy on the details.

“I know that last year they did the same thing, although I can’t remember clearly what the program was,” Wisnu said. “Wasn’t it when they turned on vehicle lamps in the afternoon? I don’t know, I can’t really remember.”

Wisnu, who works at a movie theater, said he usually goes out on the town with friends on his Saturdays off. He doubted Jakarta’s malls would turn their lights off for the hour, “especially because it’s on a weekend.”

He said, however, that he would like to participate in events centering around Earth Hour if he could learn of them.

“But actually, I can’t live with my mobile phone off,” Wisnu said. “It would be really hard for me, so I would probably fully charge my hand phone before the Earth Hour,” he said.

Tina

Tina, 30, works at a pharmacy in the capital, and said that she was aware of the worldwide campaign.

“Obviously, it is to prevent global warming,” she said. “But all I know is that we just have to turn the lights off for an hour.”

Tina lives in Petukangan, South Jakarta, with her parents. She said she would be working until 10 p.m. on Saturday.

“I don’t think I will be participating in Earth Hour,” she said.

She said that as of Thursday, the store she worked at had not announced any plans to participate. Tina said she doubted the shop would close early because of its location in a shopping center.

“Usually, there are a lot of customers on the weekend, Saturday included,” Tina said.

She added that she had not discussed any plans for Earth Hour with her family, either.

“If they want us to participate why doesn’t PLN just automatically turn off the lights?”