Earth Hour wields new power
Popular movement calls for more than flick of switch, supporters say
Where do you stand on Earth Hour?
Optimistically, with environmental groups buoyed by renewed support from a re-energized citizenry? “These rituals are important for creating a sense of identity and community,” says Keith Stewart of Greenpeace Canada. “They look down the street and see they are with their neighbours who want to do something about climate change.”
Or, more soberly, with Harry Mccaughey, a Queen’s University professor who will turn off his lights tonight and use the darkened hour for sad reflection on climate change? “My mind cannot get away from this overwhelming problem we are facing,” he says.
Donations to and membership in environmental groups are up since January, when public hearings into the Northern Gateway pipeline launched and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver accused environmentalists of having a “radical ideological agenda” funded by foreigners and abetted by “jet-setting celebrities.”
There is likely to be more activism in the wake of the federal budget’s new rollbacks on environmental protection, says Stewart.
In September, Greenpeace expected 50 people at a demonstration in Ottawa and was stunned when more than 200 took part. In January, the B.C. based Dogwood Initiative saw donations increase five times over the same month last year. Its Facebook reach increased 10,000 per cent in that month.
In western Canada, increased ac- tivism is a response to the pipeline controversy, but locally there’s also been renewal. The Toronto Environmental Alliance says it has gotten some 20,000 signatures in support of public transit through a more engaged and growing membership in the past year or so. However Mccaughey, who has taught environmental science for 40 years, sees the past year differently, as one marked by dismal failures: withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, inadequate regulation of the Alberta oilsands, sharp cuts to Canada’s internationally respected ozone monitoring network in the North, staff reductions at Environment Canada, and the “quite astonishing” media control imposed on federal scientists. He could go on. All in all, says Mccaughey, “We are walking backwards.”
Earth Hour is symbolic. It’s sup- posed to be a conversation starter, a behaviour changer. This year, 511communities in Canada have signed on, compared to 150 for the first Earth Hour in 2008. Critics note that Toronto’s power usage dropped by only 5 per cent during Earth Hour 2011, one-half of the reduction during Earth Hour in 2010 and a third of 2009. Was it a sign of declining interest? Supporters contend that it was colder last year, about -5C as the lights went out, compared to a milder 10C in 2009. There is evidence that since 2005 electricity demand has been going down in Ontario. People are living in smaller dwellings, being more conservation-minded and using energy efficient appliances. There is also the effect of a sluggish economy. An example from last summer: on July 21, when Toronto’s temper- ature hit 37.5 C., it was expected that demand for electricity would break existing records. But instead of rising through the steamy afternoon, demand leveled off.
Still, sitting by candlelight for an hour does not seem like doing very much in the face of warming temperatures, rising oceans and polluted air. “I’ve changed my light bulbs, done all the energy conservation stuff and then I see the tarsands as the perfect example of a huge amount of carbon emissions,” says Franz Hartmann, executive-director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance. “People are doing their bit, but how does it measure up against something like that?” Hartmann suggests Earth Hour can be used to develop a more vocal citizenry. “We need to take Earth Hour from just turning off the lights to turning on civic engagement . . . Take the hour to write to elected officials. Tell them to get serious about TTC expansion so more people will leave their cars at home, get serious about real energy conservation in every building in my city, and tell them it’s time everybody, including business and industry, made plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
It can be a struggle, though, to link individual behaviour and a warming planet. Canadians see environmental issues as the most serious problem facing the world, an Environics poll reported in December. But very few named the environment as Canada’s No.1problem; the most urgent challenge was the economy and unemployment.
Among the so called Millennials, who were born in the 1980s and 1990s, concern about the environment and conservation was far less important than it had been for their baby boomer parents, a 40-year study of 9 million youth reported in the online Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in March.
But pollsters haven’t talked to the very young, including 10-year-old Julia Kane.
“I’ve thought about it quite a bit,” says the East York girl. “I like saving energy and the Earth’s resources.”
Last year she was sad when she looked out her window to see the East York Civic Centre still illuminated. “I felt like they didn’t really care about our planet,” says Julia. But she cares? “Yep, I care.”