Hey Bears! Earth Hour 2020 (Saturday March 28th, 2020, at 8:30 pm) is rapidly approaching. You probably already know what Earth Hour is, and you might think that it’s somewhat silly.
Nobody actually believes that a bunch of people turning off some lights for one hour is going to change anything, do they? And our school can’t really participate anyway. The timing doesn’t allow it and if we turn off our lights, the school will be plunged into darkness.
Indeed, it is an unfortunate truth that MCI’s notorious lack of windows and natural lighting makes it difficult for us to celebrate Earth Hour. And yes, we obviously can’t “properly” participate because there’s no school on the 28th. There won’t ever be school during Earth Hour, since it takes place in the evening and on the last Saturday of March. Regardless, MCI and many other schools do their bit on the Friday before.
But the question still remains - does Earth Hour make a difference? According to the mission statement of EarthHour.org, (the official website for… well, Earth Hour), the main purpose of Earth Hour is to make a symbolic commitment to the betterment of our environment. The event is meant to “spark global conversations on protecting nature not only to combat the climate crisis, but to ensure our own health, happiness, prosperity and even survival.”
The carbon emission reduction of the event is indeed negligible (Gollom, 2014), but millions of people across 180 countries participate in Earth Hour every year, meaning they have taken the time out of their day to consider how they as individuals can impact the planet.
Yes, Earth Hour is simplistic. Anyone can do it and the second it’s over, we can continue on with our wasteful, energy-guzzling, consumer lifestyles. But for that brief hour, people are acting in unity for our environment. Any act of positive unity in our increasingly more complicated society is a moment to be cherished. So if you can, please do consider participating in Earth Hour 2020 with your families and conserve energy whenever possible to carry on the spirit of environmental stewardship.
Energy conservation tips include: turning off lights that are not in use, unplugging appliances that are not in use (yeah it’s annoying to plug them in again, but come on! That’s a first world problem if I ever heard one) and changing to energy efficient lights and appliances (this tip does depend on how cool your parents are, of course). The internet is at your fingertips for more information on how you can make a difference, of course.
Happy Earth Hour, MCI!
Image Source: NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens; NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. ervice.* rvice.*