The annual Earth Hour event is here again folks. In case you haven’t heard Earth Hour is a big ol’ event started in 2007 in Sydney. That first Earth Hour, 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008, more than 400 cities, thousands of businesses and over 50 million people around the world participated.
This year, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), among other organizations, wants you to turn off your lights for the 2009 annual Earth Hour.
Depending on where you live Earth Hour is taking place tomorrow (it’s still Friday in my time zone) on Saturday March 28th at 8:30 – 9:30 pm.
The idea, according to WWF, is that by “Taking part in Earth Hour 2009, you’ll send a message that the US must act now to slow climate change.”
Am I on board?:
Not so much. I didn’t participate last year, and I won’t be participating this year. Here’s my issue with Earth Hour – it’s a one day solution idea. It’s grand scale when really all the little choices we make each day are the ones that truly add up and create change. I mean, imagine if everyone agreed to use cloth napkins all year, carpooled each day, or gave up all but one TV set? These are things that would create massive change; more so than flipping a switch off for one hour.
I hate that events like Earth Hour create a feeling that “being green is a novelty” instead of promoting a being green everyday sort of feeling. You can turn off your lights for one hour to what, prove a point? However, in the end, your point is hypocritical if you leave your cell phone charger plugged in all day, use paper napkins, own three TVs, and so on for the rest of the year. One hour is not enough. I should, to be fair, point out that the Earth Hour website does promote long term change, it’s just that the event itself does not.
On the flip side:
IF observing Earth Hour makes a tree hugger out of a former non-eco-friendly individual, I suppose it’s a good thing. We don’t know if grand gestures create change or not though. For the people I know, it’s the small steps that seem to work better to create long term eco-change.
Plenty of folks disagreed with me last year though. Lots and lots of people had good reasons for participating. I personally can’t justify it. If you are on board with Earth Hour, you can sign up to participate at the official Earth Hour website, learn about cool fun to have with the lights off, and find more helpful tools for the fight against climate change.
SO: Are you participating? Let me know why or why not in the comments…
[image via stock.xchng]
You know. I think we would do a much better job if we decided to keep only one light on at a time for the night. Many houses are lit up and don’t need to have them all running. On the other hand, fumbling around in the dark to give a message won’t be as effective.