Symbolism is Powerful…But – March 25, 2009
Earth Hour, which
coming up this Saturday evening, is symbolism. And symbolism can be powerful.
But it only works if it turns into action. And action on climate change is past due.
Pardon me if I’m skeptical – some who’ve been listening to me rant this
week would say “cynical” – but I’m, well, skeptical and maybe cynical.
The hype is hyper. And it’s driving me nuts. The talk in
some places is about “celebrating” Earth Hour. Pardon me, but there’s
precious little to celebrate. Here in Canada, our political “leaders” are moving in the opposite direction from solving
the climate change problem, gutting what environmental laws we do have. So I
don’t think they’ll be paying any attention to the symbolism of people
turning out their lights for an hour, even if WWF’s target of one billion
participants worldwide is met.
WWF admits that Earth Hour is a symbolic event and is
publicizing it as a vote for climate change action. It says, “Turning off our
lights for an hour won’t stop climate change but it does demonstrate that our
individual action is important and adds up to make a big difference. More
importantly, it sends a very powerful message to government and world leaders
that people want policies and regulations put in place that can achieve
meaningful emission reduction to help fight climate change.”
I very much hope those leaders are listening. Action is
urgent: In December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen
to try to establish an international agreement for controlling greenhouse
gasses. This meeting must result in a commitment to a fair and ambitious climate
deal. However, it’s not as simple as watching people turn out their lights for
an hour in March, then saying, “Oh, yes, we must regulate industry and we’re
all in agreement!”
The first Earth Hour, three years ago in
Australia, was a brilliant (so to speak) idea. The second one was a wonderful
community-building expansion worldwide. But this year’s Earth Hour might be
one too many. It has degenerated into a meaningless Earth Day-type of feel-good
exercise that has taken on a life of its own. As such, I fear that it’s
paradoxically in danger of losing its focus on individual action (which has been
a hallmark of my work and of Natural Life’s editorial for 30 years) and
attracting a lot of greenwash. And if that continues, my cynicism could be
catching, which would make the event backfire big time. The PR firms are working overtime as usual, but
what is particularly disturbing to me is the way ordinary people seem to have
gone so far off-track. Last year, I wrote about people driving downtown in their
SUVs to “celebrate” Earth Hour. But this year, there was the newspaper
article describing how one high profile environmentalist will be drinking wine
and relaxing with friends in front of the gas fireplace…hope the electric fan
is turned off. Or how about the Toronto VIPs who are dining by candlelight at
the top of a downtown office tower…hope they plan to walk up. But they have to
go, because they’d be Earth Hour Grinches – seen as unconcerned about the
environment – if they sent regrets. Then there’s
Earth Hour Canada, which is offering one lucky participant a trip to visit the
polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba…courtesy corporate sponsors Frontiers North
Adventures and Sears Travel, which is donating airfare (there’s a frivolous
use of carbon if I’ve ever seen one). Not sure what corporate sponsor Coca
Cola is donating.
Cynical, maybe. Turning off my lights on Saturday evening,
sure. Neither will change the course of events much. We need to turn the
symbolism into action. Quickly. And I can’t help but wonder if the time,
energy, community and money could be better spent to that end.
Posted: 2009/03/25 6:48 PM
