On March 26, 2011, the world commemorated Earth Hour. For those of us who may not be familiar with what Earth Hour is: Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. One year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement, led by one of my favourite organizations the World Wildlife Fund with more than 50 million people across 35 countries/territories participating.
This year one of those countries was Jamaica. I remember vividly, 2 years ago when I first mentioned the cause to some members of a team I was a part of and they seemed a little unconvinced, but being good sports and after gaining an understanding of what it was about, we sought to sensitize members of the university campus where I spent most of my days at the time. Most persons we spoke to had never heard of the initiative and probably thought we were crazy for asking them to plug out appliances and turn off all lights for an hour on a Saturday night to show support for climate change. Who were these crazy people? So my very first Earth Hour came and went. I sat in the dark between 8:30-9:30 p.m. uncertain if anyone else was in the same boat, but nevertheless finding hope in the knowledge that other persons somewhere else in the world support the cause and that I was doing a good thing.
Fast forward 2 years later to 2011, a group of persons branded as EarthHourJA, taking advantage of the wonderful platform that is Twitter, popped up as a suggestion on Follow Friday. I immediately clicked "follow" and began encouraging my own followers and anyone who would listen to support the cause. This group (whoever they are) got the support of the Jamaica Environment Trust and a number of corporate partners. But, what really warmed my heart were the tweets I read during Earth Hour. So many of my tweeps were supporting the cause and encouraging others to do the same. I sat watching my candles flicker, feeling heartened that yes, my generation really was serious about leading change.
Naysayers, call us wagonists and say that it makes no sense to support the initiative instead of doing what matters. But I put it to you that these persons who were willing to sit in the "dark" for an hour have demonstrated the capacity to join a cause and help in their own way to save the only home we know. So yes it DOES matter. Engendering that kind of support can only further the cause.
As the Earth Hour promos will tell you, go beyond the Hour and be more conscious of your choices. Use recyclable bags at the supermarket and market (the higglers at Coronation market already practise reusing and recycling in a most remarkable way, so follow their lead), turn off the tap, hose or pipe when not in use, reuse plastic bottles, don't buy bottled water- buy a nice bottle and take your water with you, change your light bulbs to energy saving bulbs etc. Here are some more tips.
Essentially, though they may not all see this, I want to express my thanks to whoever EarthHourJA is and my pride that WE, Jamaicans, are finally in our own little way contributing to the change and I hope those of you who read this (if you're not already doing so) start making your contribution as well.
Peace & love.
(the idealist at heart)
xoxo
Keeta :)
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