Dear friends,
So, Earth Hour 2009 has come and gone. What happened on Saturday night at 8h30pm? Did the whole world join in on this craze to switch lights and electrical appliances off for an hour? If so, how successful was it, and what happens now?
After the build up over the last few weeks of this great event, not much images and stories made it into the news on the Internet or in newspapers. Why not? A quick Internet (read google…) search for images and stories about Earth Hour in Cape Town, or South Africa revealed only a few snippets of stories, or pictures. The best one I found is this photograph by Miriam Mannak of Table Mountain by starlight, on Flickr. And WWF’s Earth Hour’s web site has one video of a concert that took place at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
A video on the Earth Hour United States web site claims that “over 36 million people turned out and switched off“. If that’s true, then I’m impressed!
So what’s the next step? With Climate Change suddenly being “fashionable”, do we share an understanding of the need to reduce our energy usage, our car travel, our consumer habits, etc.? There might just be a tiny chance to use the momentum from Earth Hour to encourage bolder sustainability initiatives. Initiatives that goes beyond government policies and the intricacies of global climate deals. Initiatives that we can do at home, in our communities, in our schools, and our places of work. If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!
If you did anything during Earth Hour on Saturday night, please let us know. Send us your pics and stories, email alistar@90×2030.org.za
Best,
Alistar
