Earth Hour 2009 - Will it Really Make a Difference?

The success of Earth Hour 2009 will not be measured by the energy savings it will generate, but rather by the statement it will make to politicians across the globe. The global statement it will make next Saturday is that people want politicians to make climate change a top priority on their agendas.

According to Time Magazine, the average American produces about 20 tons of the major greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. That might sound like a lot - and Americans do have among the biggest carbon footprints in the world - but the entire world emits around 27 billion tons of CO2 each year, through transportation, electricity use, deforestation. Look at those numbers for a moment, and you'll realize there's very little that any of us can do on an individual level to stop climate change.

It's numbers like those that can make Earth Hour so easy to criticize. Last year, starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 29th citizens from around the world turned off their lights for an hour, to draw attention to the connection between energy use and climate change. From New Zealand, the event moved westward with the sun to Australia, Manila, Dubai, Dublin, New York, Chicago and finally San Francisco, where both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge went dark for an hour. Carter Roberts, head of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which sponsored Earth Hour, said the global event was designed to "make a statement about our commitment to solve the climate change problem and symbolize the commitment that people will make throughout the rest of the year."

Last year's Earth Hour didn't suffer for a lack of gimmicks. Servers wearing glow-in-the-dark necklaces sold eco-tinis at bars and restaurants in Phoenix. A local yoga house in Michigan offered sessions by lamplight, and the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago arranged check-in by candlelight. All in all, the WWF estimated that tens of millions of people around the world participated in Earth Hour 2008. Watching the lights wink off in major metropolitan areas no doubt looked impressive, but it's worth asking: What was the point? As Roberts himself noted, the energy saved by turning off the lights for an hour "won't make an enormous difference." So, if it won't cut carbon emissions, why bother then with Earth Hour 2009, or Earth Day or Live Earth, last year's daylong concert for the environment?

Time Magazine's Bryan Walsh says that it's because climate change is essentially a political problem, and the language of politics is symbolism. Just because an act is symbolic doesn't mean it's empty. The only way to truly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to take the pressure off global warming, is an international regime that puts a cap and a price on climate pollution. And the only way that will happen is if politicians around the world become convinced that climate change is an issue that matters to people, one that will make them change the way they live, buy - and vote. "Unlike most of the issues that we grapple with, climate change is global," said Roberts. "The pressure is on us to do the right thing." If shutting off the lights for an hour on a Saturday night and doing yoga in the dark makes that statement, then Earth Hour will have been worth it."

The environmental movement is reaching a delicate moment. We're well past the point where going green is novel, where just doing your bit to save the Earth deserves endless praise. Many of us are aware of the existence of global warming, of its inconvenient truth, yet we sense that the solutions we've been given - change a light bulb, change your life - fall far short of the scale of the problem. We risk green fatigue because, after all, what can we do about it? But this is the moment when we need to keep pushing in every way we can. The technologies that will help us decarbonize energy are developing, but they need a push - and that will only happen if we keep climate change near the top of our political agenda.

Please, let's all join together to make a unified statement during Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30-9:30 PM.

Source: www.timemagazine.com

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Earth Hour 2009 is just one week away, so mark your calendars