Earth Hour and Harvesting Green Votes
I just had a last minute thought re tonight's Earth Hour event.
Between 8 and 9 tonight, I'll be doing what I usually do at that time:
I'll be out with my wife walking our two dogs 5km around our small town.
Tonight, however, I'll be looking at my neighbours' windows to see which ones are participating in Earth Hour. I'll be noting those houses and when the election campaign comes, I'll be knocking on those doors. I'll be armed with the knowledge that these are environmentally aware and concerned people and they are prime targets for a GPC campaign. I may knock on some of those doors even before an election
This goes along with a slogan I came up with a while back:
"Live green? Vote Green!"
(i.e. If you live a (small-g) green life, take the next obvious step
by voting for the Green Party.)
So... if you're out for a walk tonight while your lights are out, take
note of who else has their lights out. They are potential GPC voters.
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ok i gotta get this off my chest..
I HATE EARTH HOUR!
Im considering turning everything on max in my house to "offset" about 10 of you!
Why are we still putting on these BS song and dance events to "raise awareness"
anyone who doesn't already know about this stuff is living in a CAVE, and thus has a TINY footprint that we don't need to worry about.
Google's homepage is now Black. Its probably going to conserve more energy over the course of today then all of the people who even remember to bother turing their power off for an hour... but come tomorrow, googles home page will be bring white again... ohh... they know they can conserve tons of power just by changing that bloody colour, and that it wont really affect them in any real way... but nah... lets do it once a year for PR purposes and then move on..
You want to launch an "awareness campaign" that has meaning.. have a weekly earth hour @ 2pm... on a wednesday!
Earth hour frustration
It does seem like a meaningless gesture to those of us aware of the magnitude of the problem. However, if you take a step back, Earth Hour started in Australia (under the Conservative Howard government, which was one of the two obstructionists, with the U.S., in not signing Kyoto 1). In one year, Earth Hour spread around the globe. That's progress.
Not only that, but a lot of people have been saying what you're suggesting - make it more frequent: monthly, even weekly. So it has contributed to a big step forward.
Our family participated, and when I went out for a walk during that time, I didn't see very many places without lights and televisions, which was disappointing. I didn't see one business with lights out; in fact, there were many, many closed businesses with lights on.
I do think Earth Hour is making the same mistake environmental campaigns have been making for decades: they emphasize personal sacrifice. Raising awareness is one thing, but unless we show people that a new green economy provides a better lifestyle in many important ways than what people have now, most people will take their chances with the current system.
Brian Gordon
Nominated Candidate, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca
Green Party of Canada
Trained Presenter
An Inconvenient Truth
People - Planet - Prosperity
The New Green Economy
Generating discussion & spreading information
Although Earth Hour itself doesn't conserve much energy in the big picture, and I found the emphasis on personal sacrifice beside the point (for the same reasons as Brian), there nevertheless were a number of positive effects. The anticipation & aftermath both increased awareness of relevant proportions of energy use/waste and ways to conserve. The Toronto Star (for example) had a series of articles spanning months where each installment focused on a different aspect of conservation or efficiency and challenged two of their writers to decrease their footprint. These actions were outside of the Earth Hour window, the kind of year-round stuff more people should attempt.
This is exactly the kind of sustained or repetitive awareness & action we need, and Earth Hour seems to have generated a fair amount of it, so it has redeemed itself in my eyes. In fact, listening to the radio, it seemed like a lot of people turned it into something fun. When was the last time privation or moderation was successfully promoted as being fun? Generally it's the opposite - 'fun' involves wasting more energy. So in turning the idea of fun & celebration on its head - using less energy in a celebration instead of more - it pioneered another kind of positive awareness-building.
For a lot of people (e.g. those receiving email or Facebook invites from friens) this may have been the first time they really paid any attention to energy use/waste, footprint, or climate change. By deliberately using that kind of viral marketing, events like Earth Hour can reach a new audience or increase awareness amongst those still just waking up.
Erich Jacoby-Hawkins
Barrie, ON
p.s. Google going black is merely symbolic, probably resulting in little if any net energy savings - read up on the Blackle controversy for more details. I'm one of the few still using an energy-hogging CRT - but that will finally change this coming week.
The views I express on this blog are purely my own and should not be construed to represent the official position of the Green Party of Canada - the same goes for all other people's posts & comments.
Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, Barrie ON - although I'm on Cabinet (Nat'l Rev. and Ecol. Fiscal Reform), the views here are my own and may not reflect official GPC positions. Please visit www.ErichtheGreen.ca
Nothing's perfect...
Like Brian, I was also disappointed in the lack of participation in my little town (pop. 3,000). I'm not sure that the gesture was "meaningless" though. There is such a thing as the bandwagon effect. While it may be only cave dwellers who are not aware of this stuff, those who are aware have not all been actively doing anything. This small, simple gesture got plenty of people involved and should may spark increased dedication or newfound enthusiasm.
I'm a bit of a codger but where I see the most usefulness of Earth Hour is among our youth. Like Erich said, it was fun. Some might say it was "cool." Perhaps, it will inspire some high school students to pursue a career in the green economy. Perhaps, it will make some parents encourage their kids to look into green career alternatives.
Earth Hour was a symbolic gesture. It was not intended to save much energy, in and of itself. Its value lies in legitimizing and mainstreaming concern for the planet. To those who think it did nothing to raise awareness, I point to the massive media coverage: top story on most TV networks, front page news in most newspapers.
I still contend that my original point of using Earth Hour to identify potential Green voters is a valid one. According to media reports, Canada was one of the biggest participants on a per capita basis. That should be encouraging to us. If we can convert even a quarter of the voting-age Earth Hour participants into GPC voters, it will have a major effect on our electoral prospects.
Jim Elve
Communications Chair
Haldimand-Norfolk
Jim Elve
The opinions expressed here are purely my own and do not represent official Green Party of Canada policy or positions.
Token Gesture Promotions
I personally do not participate in such awareness raising gestures, unless I happen to find it convenient at the moment. Annual Buy Nothing Day, Earth Hour, 30 hour famine... I am fully cognisant of the fact that these are ideas taken from the marketing mentality on increasing awareness and concern among those who don't normally consider such things, but our family lifestyle is acknowledged by locals as one of the Greenest in this boomtown urban jungle, and I'm not sure I can trim much more and still retain enough of the essentials of life. So if I happen to make it down to my local eco-store on the bus for my semi-annual shopping trip and it happens to be on Buy Nothing Day, I'm still making my purchases, despite the looks from the staff.
However, I find the only ppl who state that these are worthy campaigns are, well, the converts. I have yet to hear from someone that found their viewpoints profoundly altered by participating in such mass token activities. Like programs for teens, the only comments I ever hear on its anticipated effectiveness are from observers or organizers, not the intended audience themselves. In fact, I usually hear that average ppl who participate feel like they've done their part, once they've shown others they can make that sacrifice. It gives them bragging rights for years among their peers, and with that tiny action under their belts, already labels them as 'extremists,' It doesn't appear to be a "gateway" action to further the causes involved.
I do believe that it increases awareness esp. in the media, and that can be capitalized upon. We can use it to prove, in real numbers, how many of us there really are. (But it's not as though 10 million ppl the world over protesting the Iraq invasion made any difference to pre-selected policy in the US, Britain, or that ineffective puppet of the US, the UN...) Remember the new dawn of environmentalism in the '90's? That lasted a few years... Turning lifetime commitments into fad gestures just encourages those who jump on the newest and coolest. It pops almost as quickly as homemade soap bubbles and does almost nothing to convert the otherwise ignorant or unmindful. In all cultures, including academia and social systems, we have to wait for the old to die, and the young to embrace the new reality.
By all means, let's come up with new campaigns and slogans and email 'petitions'. This is a Madison Ave. crowd. Maybe one will take. But I will continue to focus my efforts on long-term change, in my personal life, as well as locally and nationally, and not bother to turn out all my lights. Unless I'm going to bed...
Trey Capnerhurst
Past and Current federal Edmonton East candidate
P.S. Any slogan that has to be explained isn't a good one. I used "Be Green, Vote Green", and "Healthy Lives, Healthy World" to promote our ideas of a global movement, not just a political party, and how our solutions are necessary to personal and biosphere survival. I have had a few compliments on their effectiveness...
4%
thats the drop in power usage in Ottawa for that 1 hour on saturday night. 4 percent..
Good slogans, Trey. I'll use
Good slogans, Trey. I'll use them when I can.
I think most, if not all, of us in the GPC do plenty in our personal lives to further our commitment to the planet. I don't think participation in these types of events lessens our commitment or takes away from what we do every day of our lives. If we want our party to grow, however, we need to convince and recruit converts. We need to motivate people to vote Green. Earth Hour is just one way of raising consciousness and motivating political action - one tool in a big tool chest.
WRT the 4%, again, EH was not supposed to have any huge effect on usage. It was a publicity and awareness campaign. 4% x 25 = 100%. "A journey of a thousand miles..."
It seems like some people think EH was somehow counterproductive. I can't agree. Even if only a handful of the millions who participated make even minor lifestyle changes, it will have an effect. Even if only a handful of the millions who participated start to seriously consider voting in a manner that reflects that symbolic commitment, it will have an effect. Can't hurt. Might help. What's wrong with that?
Jim Elve
Communications Chair
Haldimand-Norfolk
Jim Elve
The opinions expressed here are purely my own and do not represent official Green Party of Canada policy or positions.
Time Magazine on the value of Earth Hour
So, if it won't cut carbon emissions, why bother then with Earth Hour, or Earth Day or Earth Live, last year's daylong concert for the environment?
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 empty.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,172...
Brian Gordon
Nominated Candidate, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca
Green Party of Canada
Trained Presenter
An Inconvenient Truth
People - Planet - Prosperity
The New Green Economy
Optimist Needed
I really find it frustrating when people shoot down the small steps. Every action, awareness, or symbolic gestures changes how people, politicians, and industries act.
If you change a light bulb one day, who knows what one will do the next! Would people rather we did nothing?
Anyways, I do like James's idea that we have an earth hour mid week. Everyone shut down their computers, walk out and take a deep breath.
Dan Grice
Candidate for Vancouver Quadra.
www.VoteGrice.com
604-725-8913
These opinions and ideas are my own, but I grant you the right to implement them.