Tomorrow evening is the annual event known as Earth Hour, when
people throughout the world turn off their lights as a symbolic
gesture of environmental unity. See Earth Hour
homepage.
Granted, turning out the lights by itself doesn’t do much to
help the Earth, but I find that it is a good time to think about
the environment, including climate change, and consider what each
of us can do.
Most of the time, my wife and I — occasionally with family and
friends — take a moment to appreciate what we have, discuss things
in general or play a game. The grandkids like to play Hide and Seek
in our darkened house.
Earth Hour is celebrated in 7,000 cities and 178 countries and
territories, according to officials with World Wildlife Fund, which
initiated the event 10 years ago in 2007. Hundreds of lighted
structures, monuments and buildings go dark from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
along with millions of households. In Seattle, Earth Hour is
recognized by the:
If you do an online search for “Earth Hour,” you’ll find lots of
people, organizations and businesses around the world participating
in this annual event on Saturday. But it appears that enthusiasm in
the U.S. and especially Washington state may be waning.
Earth Hour involves the simple act of uniting people throughout
the world by turning off the lights, television and other
electrical devices for an hour — from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Started in
2007 by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour sends the message that
everyone can be involved in reducing the effects of climate
change.
Through the years, I have enjoyed the quiet time, sometimes with
family and friends, sometimes with just my wife. Although it seems
like a good time to discuss the challenges of climate change, our
conversations don’t often go in that direction. Instead, we take a
moment to appreciate what we have, talk about things in general or
play some sort of game. Hide and Seek in a darkened house is what
the kids want to do.
I noticed in my online search that various restaurants around
the globe are offering candlelight dinners during Earth Hour this
year. I like that idea, although I’m not sure if it fits into the
pure spirit of Earth Hour. Still, to get out and be among a larger
group of people would be nice.
The Tundra
Restaurant & Bar in Toronto, Canada, has created a special menu
of locally grown foods for this Saturday’s Earth Hour. All 17
Brasserie Blanc restaurants in England will be celebrating the
hour. The
DoubleTree Inn in Victoria to the north of here will be dimming
the lights throughout the hotel and encouraging people to recognize
Earth Hour.
“This year, we invite Finns to participate in the biggest candle
light dinner in the world to awake conversation about ecologically
responsible food. We ask people to turn off lights, light up
candles and spend an hour with their loved ones enjoying
climate-friendly food.
“Food touches every single person, and about 20 percent of our
emissions are caused by what we eat. Approximately 60 percent of
the emissions are caused in the production and most of them are
related to producing meat, eggs and dairy.
“One of the most important things an individual can do to
protect climate is eating less meat and more vegetables and
sustainable seafood. Thinking about what we eat is a small act with
great impact. Organize your own candle light dinner and show your
support for action on climate change!”
These are just a few examples of how people are getting into
Earth Hour in other countries. However, I’m finding it harder each
year to find participants in Washington state, which has always
been a major part of the environmental movement. Check out the
participant list.
The Space Needle and Pacific Science Center remain on the list
for going dark. (I’m not sure how the Space Needle restaurant is
involved.) Several other local groups on last year’s list have not
signed up so far this year.
The World Wildlife Fund boasts of support from 42,000 cities and
towns from 172 countries around the world. In Washington state,
Snoqualmie is the only city posted on the official participants
list, although Seattle is involved in the challenge to become
Earth
Hour Capital.
In addition to the Space Needle and Pacific Science Center,
landmarks going dark Saturday include the Golden Gate Bridge in San
Francisco, the Empire State Building in New York, Big Ben and
Buckingham Palace in London, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the
Eiffel Towel in Paris, the Borobudur and Prambanan temples in
Indonesia, and the Opera House in Sydney, where it all started.
Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, a Filipino Cardinal of the Roman
Catholic Church, urged his followers in Manila to be one with the
rest of the world, as part of Pope Francis’ call for “ecological
justice,” according to a story by reporter Leslie Ann Aquino in the
Manila Bulletin.
St. James Cathedral, Seattle //
Photo: Wikipedia
“Let’s turn off our appliances and other things that use
electricity to give our world a little rest,” Tagle was quoted as
saying.
This year, for the first time, St. James Cathedral in Seattle
will participate in Earth Day by darkening its exterior, thus
“bringing awareness to the issue of climate change in the spirit of
Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on environment and
poverty,” according to Earth
Ministry’s website.
Perhaps before Saturday additional newcomers will become part of
Earth Hour, as others renew their participation in the annual
event.
If you don’t have it marked on your calendar, Saturday at 8:30
p.m. marks the start of Earth Hour, when people around the world
turn off their lights for an hour to show their concern for climate
change.
This is my fourth year to commemorate Earth Hour, and I look
forward to the quiet time. I see Earth Hour as a big event, because
it is happening throughout the world, but also as a small event,
because it is so simple.
Last year, the event’s sponsor, World Wildlife Fund, added a new
element called the “I
will if you will” challenge. The video-based challenge calls
for individuals or groups to promise to do something worthwhile
(sometimes big) if a lot of other people will do something else
worthwhile (usually easy). You should check out some of the
videos.
This year, I must also congratulate our Salish Sea neighbors
across the Canadian border, considering that Vancouver, B.C., was
named “Global Earth Hour Capital.”
Six finalists were named during this first Earth Hour City
Challenge. Besides Vancouver, the other finalists were Forlì,
Italy; New Delhi, India; Oslo, Norway; Uppsala, Sweden; and San
Francisco, USA.
In announcing the
winner, Jim Leape, director general of WWF-International, had
this to say about Vancouver:
“Local governments around the world are striving to create
attractive, smart cities while tackling a multitude of urgent
environmental challenges. Vancouver can serve as a role model for
how cities can engage residents in these efforts, thereby
accelerating the transition towards low carbon development.
“I applaud Vancouver’s vision and innovation. More cities
everywhere need to find inspiration in the bold initiatives of
Vancouver and the other finalists and build on them, bringing
climate action at the scale and speed necessary to secure
sustainable, attractive lifestyles for people across the
planet.”
The city was recognized for its “impressive transportation
strategy” along with its food and neighborhood energy plans. For
example, all new buildings in the city are called on to be carbon
neutral by 2020, when more than half of the trips by residents are
to be by foot, bicycle or public transit.
UPDATE, Friday, June 25
“There are no winners and losers in this,” said Sir Geoffrey
Palmer, New Zealand’s former prime minister. “It ain’t over til
it’s over, and even then it ain’t over. There will be a pause. We
will resume discussions about this next year,” he told
The Associated Press.
As the IWC meeting ended today, Greenland’s native population
was granted permission to hunt a few humpback whales for the next
three years, expanding the list of species the Greenlanders are
allowed to kill under the license of subsistence hunting.
—– UPDATE, Wednesday, June 23
Whaling moratorium talks break down — so whaling nations will
continue to set their own limits. Changes in the governance of the
International Whaling Commission will be considered. See report in
Reuters.
—– UPDATE, Tuesday, June 22
A Norwegian delegate to the International Whaling Commission,
Karsten Klepsvick, told Reuters
reporters today that the compromise being debated behind closed
doors will fail:
“As we can see it today, we do not believe these negotiations
will succeed. There are at least eight, ten stumbling blocks, but
the main stumbling block is that those who are against whaling seem
to be willing to accept nothing but nil (quotas), and we cannot
accept that.”
—–
The future of the International Whaling Commission — and perhaps
even the survival of certain whale species — rests on decisions
being made this week in Morocco.
While I have no personal insight into this story, I think it’s
worth summarizing activities swirling around the meeting that began
today. If you haven’t heard, a controversial proposal by IWC
Chairman Cristian Maquieira would lift the ban on whaling for
Japan, Iceland and Norway. In return, the three countries would
come back into the fold of the IWC, with new quotas officially
imposed by the commission to reduce recent harvest levels.
Maquieira says his plan could save thousands of whales a year.
(Check out an article Maquieira wrote for the BBC or read a
press release (PDF 40 kb) issued by the IWC.) As the annual
meeting of the IWC got under way today, Maquiera was not present
due to illness, according to reporter Arthur Max of the
Associated Press.
Deputy Chairman Anthony Liverpool opened the meeting then
quickly moved the discussions behind closed doors for two days of
negotiations among the strident anti-whaling countries as well as
those that insist that whaling is a long-held cultural right. It’s
in those meetings that things may come to a head.
Currently, Japan, Iceland and Norway set their own whaling
quotas. Japan claims an exemption in the IWC Charter that allows
for the taking of whales for scientific research — even though
nearly all the whale meat ends up in the commercial market. Iceland
and Norway operate under a process that allows formal objections to
the whaling moratorium.
In a surprise move leading up to today’s meeting, Greenpeace,
the Pew Environment Group and the World Wildlife Fund said in a
joint
statement (PDF 420 kb) that a compromise on quotas is possible
but only if six essential elements are met:
End all whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near
Antarctica.
All whale products must be consumed in the country for which
the hunt was authorized.
Catch limits must be calculated by the IWC’s scientific
committee to assure appropriate management procedures.
Harvest of threatened, endangered or vulnerable species would
not be allowed.
Scientific whaling beyond the limits set by the IWC would not
be allowed.
Contracting governments must agree not to operate under
objections to the agreement as originally allowed in the IWC
Charter.
Meanwhile, other environmental groups argue that it is wrong to
kill whales and that any compromise serves to reward the whaling
countries for bad behavior. As Nikki Entrup of Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society told John Vidal of
The Guardian:
“It would be a fundamental mistake now to reward those three
whaling nations who have continued to ignore the international
consensus on commercial whaling and are opposed by millions of
people around the world. What kind of message does that give out to
countries like Korea who used to whale? I urge Greenpeace to
withdraw their position. They want to do the right thing in
principle but more whales are killed in the northern hemisphere
than in the south.”
Japan has hinted that it might pull out of the IWC if member
nations can’t abide its whaling activities. Meanwhile, Australia
has filed an action against Japan in the International Court of
Justice, saying Japan’s actions are a direct violation of the
international whaling ban in the Southern Ocean.
International politics and intrigue run thick through this whole
story. Check out last weekend’s
Times of London for an investigative report accusing Japan of
bribing officials of other countries to come to the IWC meeting and
support whaling.
It will be interesting to see if members of the IWC can find a
way to make the organization relevant again.
Here’s a quick reminder that Earth Hour is tonight from 8:30 to
9:30 p.m.
During this hour, when people throughout the world switch off
their lights in a simple symbolic act, millions are showing their
support for actions addressing climate change.
As I said last year in
Water Ways, this may seem like a small thing, even a waste of
time, but all important movements start with small actions.
Participants often say they feel united with people around the
world.
This year, the third year of the event, Earth Hour is sanctioned
in 3,100 cities in 121 countries, according to the “My Earth Hour” Web site,
sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. Continue reading →
