Julie McLaughlin
Symbolic action is intended make environmental statement
Hunkered around candles and waiting for the lights to come back on can be a bother if it’s the fault of downed power lines or some other act of God. When done on purpose the result can be fun and who knew an act of awareness.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is bringing Earth Hour a concept created last year in Sydney Australia to the rest of the world in an attempt to raise awareness about individual action and the effect it can have on climate change. Participants will turn off their lights for an hour on March 29 beginning at 8 p.m. in order to show support for the fight against global warming.
“Earth Hour is completely symbolic. Turning off our lights for one hour is not going to solve the climate crisis but what it does do is show… individual actions do make a difference and it also sends a really big statement to governments and corporate leaders that Canadians want action on climate change” says Tara Woods manager of public relations for WWF Canada and the woman in charge of Earth Hour across the country.
The focus of the group in this inaugural Canadian year is Toronto where WWF members are honing their skills and ensuring things go smoothly rather than spreading too thin but the concept has taken on a life of its own. “I think that’s what’s great about this it’s really a grassroots effort that people just take and make it their own” says Woods.
Lucy Pasternak is helping to spread the word about Earth Hour in Calgary since her friend Chelsea McRedmond came across a video about the event on YouTube. Using materials and tips provided on the WWF website Pasternak and McRedmond contacted the City of Calgary but were initially snubbed by the mayor. They later contacted Ald. Brian Pincott who was already planning on introducing a motion to support the initiative and convinced everyone on council to support the idea.
“He actually had a word with the mayor before and managed to convince him so everybody voted yes for it” says Pasternak. The city will be turning off lights on municipal buildings for the event.
McRedmond and Pasternak will be spending their hour at Café Koi where owner and chef Phillip Wong will be going without electricity for the hour using candles for light and presenting acoustic music rather than a DJ.
What else can one do to pass the hour?
“Virgin Mobile which is one of our sponsors here in Canada just did a survey last week which had the top five things that polled Canadians said that they were doing and number three was ‘getting busy’” says Woods.
