Our little blue planet needs more than just one hour of our time a year to show that we care, writes Elena Koshy
IT is easy to forget that planet Earth will be the only home we’ll ever have. The cradle of humanity, this blue planet seems to be under siege by its inhabitants whose survival ironically is dependent on its ability to sustain life.
As time goes by, tsunamis, earthquakes, unpredictable weather patterns, rising temperatures and melting polar caps are no longer news that shocks us anymore. The more Mother Nature sends us grim reminders that we’re invariably linked to her, the more we’re desensitised to the rampant damages we inflict on her on a daily basis.
We are so urbanised today that we have become so emotionally cut off from nature and all her benefits. It was for this very reason that Earth Hour was birthed to reach a wide audience around the world and to raise awareness that the future of this little blue planet, third rock from the sun, is everyone’s responsibility.
Earth Hour is a worldwide grass root movement organised since 2007 by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) to bring attention to the effects of climate change and to unite people into protecting the planet. It generally encourages individuals, communities, households and businesses to switch off their non-essential lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on a particular date in March, as a symbol of their commitment to the planet. What started out as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, back in 2007, has now evolved to be an international movement involving more than 7,000 cities and towns across the globe.
People were instantly captivated by the sheer simplicity of the message and the symbolism it carried. The simple strategy of switching off the lights was built upon the belief that symbolic action has the ability to break through social and cultural barriers, moving the global community to positive action. People getting together for a common cause and doing something collectively to create awareness was inspiring to many.
A GALLANT EFFORT
Earth Hour has garnered such a huge following, and continues to be an event that generates a lot of support from people of all ages and backgrounds.
Student Hannah Rahel from Sri KL International School is a firm believer in the positive impact of Earth Hour, having participated in this event for two years. The 13-year-old says: “Earth Hour is a great event. I’ve even got my family to participate as well. I believe that it will make a huge difference in the world if every single person would switch off during that hour. The amount of energy saved from just that one hour would be phenomenal.”
Sharing the teen’s sentiment is Mark Ng, chairman of the Bird Conservation Council, Malaysian Nature Society. He recalls that Earth Hour is usually spent at his home with games and laughter. “It’s always a good event to get together with friends, and carry out some fun but nature-inspired games to inculcate a sense of responsibility towards the environment,” he shares, before adding: “Earth Hour is a gallant effort in driving the message that we waste too much. It has created opportunities for people to get together, learn about the environment and to do something positive about it, within their capacity.”
Communications consultant Zariff Ismail also believes in Earth Hour, saying: “It unites people of various interests together to inform them about climate change. Climate change is a challenging subject to talk about but an event like Earth Hour informally allows environmental NGOs to address the issue easily.”
He adds that in Cambodia, for example, a high number of people supported Earth Hour last year and the effects are evident now as youths are starting to take interest in conservation issues such as the recent controversial dam construction by a Malaysian company in the Mekong River.
NEED FOR SUSTAINED EFFORTS
While there’s little doubt that Earth Hour has indeed raised awareness on the connection between energy consumption and climate change, there are those who believe that Earth Hour celebrations have largely remained symbolic and very much a “feel-good” brand of environmentalism.
Homemaker Lilian Khoo, says: “It becomes a pointless PR exercise when more people drive out to malls and other places to celebrate Earth Hour! It has turned out to be more of a celebration that encourages and perpetuates greater consumption, instead of the exact opposite.”
The 41-year-old adds: “I used to support this event but I don’t anymore. I feel that it has become popular for the wrong reasons, as opposed to the original motive of encouraging people to rethink their lifestyle choices to combat climate change.”
“There seems to be more emphasis towards gimmicks linked towards Earth Hour than actual awareness building,” chips in Andrew Sebastian, chief executive officer of Ecotourism and Conservation Society Malaysia (ECOMY). “Having said that, maybe that’s just what it is... a reminder to at least cut down our consumption an hour a day and expand it within our homes and work place. Earth Hour and now Earth Hour has shortfalls but also great potential to raise a new and better generation.”
One of the primary challenges that Earth Hour faces is the fact that it seems about as brief as the flickering candle it encourages people to use in the dark (beeswax or soya based, though to ensure that it’s environmentally friendly). There seems to be no concerted effort to sustain the interest once Earth Hour is over. People go about their daily lives with no evident changes in their consumption choices or lifestyle.
In the effort to address the temporal nature of this initiative, WWF stretched this campaign beyond 60 minutes by rebranding Earth Hour as Earth Hour+, to enable people to support initiatives and projects under WWF across the globe.
Recently, Earth Hour Blue, a crowd sourcing platform, was launched in 2014, to further get people to financially support environment campaigns around the world. It would seem that the rebranding exercises go to point out that Earth Hour on its own isn’t enough to change people’s behaviour towards climate change.
“Although the event seems to have matured and taken comfortably to social media, are people actually mobilised to even make a difference when addressing climate change? Are households using less energy? Or are we only wired to switching off for an hour in our lives?” poses Sebastian, putting it succinctly about whether the effects of Earth Hour only last as long as the lights are switched off.
MORE THAN FLIPPING A SWITCH
Climate change is a very present issue today in Malaysia, prominent Malaysian environmentalist and ecologist Gurmit Singh reminds us. “Unnecessary fossil fuel consumption, especially in terms of electricity and petrol as well as massive organic wastes at the landfill sites, result in large amounts of greenhouse gases being emitted.”
He adds that this results in worsening climate change effects which are already being manifested in the increasing severity and frequency of weather extremes like floods and droughts. He stresses that Earth Hour has to go beyond the yearly celebrations to positively affect behavioural changes that are sustained year round.
It’s true that solutions to climate change aren’t as easy as flipping a switch. As successful and impactful as Earth Hour has become today, it hasn’t actually reduced carbon emissions tangibly even for that one hour. Symbolism aside, there’s still a need to educate people on changing their lifestyles to become effective change makers instead of merely being tapped as a support and funding source for environmental campaigns and other initiatives.
Nevertheless, Earth Hour does give us the opportunity to pause for a moment and consider how we can take action on climate change. Perhaps that one hour of darkness can inspire us to make small changes that can be manifested exponentially across the globe.
“Start making changes in your own households,” Gurmit advises. “Eliminate energy wastage which includes raising the thermostats of your air conditioners (which should only be used during the hottest part of the day) to around 25 degrees Celsius. Avoid using electric kettles to boil water, cut down single occupancy car drives and opt for public transportation instead.”
True success of movements like Earth Hour can be achieved if people recognise that celebrating Earth Hour is not just a yearly affair. It should be assimilated into their daily lives so that Earth Hour is celebrated every hour.
As you switch off your lights this evening, remember that ultimately it’s our willingness to make lifestyle changes and not that one hour of darkness which will determine the future of this planet. Al Gore puts it in proper perspective: “If we don’t act now, future generations will look around and back at us and say, ‘You knew this — you knew what was going to happen to the planet and you decided to ignore it?’”
Happy Earth Hour everyone.