Photographer : JKROO@flickr
When I first began as an ActNow Intern, one of the first tasks I was given was to complete an action. The first thing to come to mind was Earth Hour. It was two weeks away, and was the perfect beginning to the ‘pro-active’ me! But first, I needed to figure out what exactly I was going to do for Earth Hour.
Obviously, the first thing I had to do was sign up my own house, and that was easy, a little too easy perhaps. I needed to do more. I decided to sign up my family. My Dad is pretty environmentally conscious, and so I began to tell him about the wonders of Earth Hour. "What? Never heard of it!" Now, I felt as if I had accomplished something. It made me wonder, how many others had never heard of Earth Hour? I had found my action! I thought informing 25 people about Earth Hour and getting them to sign up, would be a challenging, but realistic goal.
The Countdown...
I began a blog of my events, just so I could record how I was going and whether or not I was going to reach my goal. I also set up an events page on Facebook (a similar concept to MySpace), where hopefully, random strangers would stumble across my page and sign up. By this time I had only one week until Earth Hour.
My close group of friends were pretty easy. They are all very supportive, and although they had no idea about Earth Hour and what it was for, they just agreed to do it. I also found out that my book club meeting was to fall on Earth Hour night, and was very proud to find out that the host had already signed up! The running total was 9, and 4 days to go.
My job now was to tackle my job! An untapped resource! I began asking my fellow workers whether they have heard of Earth Hour, and to my amazement, very few had heard of the event. My next question was would anyone be interested in signing up for Earth Hour? Common responses were "My favourite TV show is on that night.", "I can't do it! I have a party that night.", "I'm not going to make a difference, am I?" These queries were quickly laid to rest, and confidence restored.
A Bump in the Road.
The next day (3 days to go), I enquired as to how many people had signed up: none! But luckily I had come prepared... Not only did I write Earth Hour all over our notice board, but I had made up a number of flyers the night before to hang around the cafe. Messages such as "Do you really like living in a hazy smog bubble?", "Wouldn't it be nice to see a star rather than just a plane flying past?", "Do it for the kids!", and "You are being apart of something great!" were plastered all over the walls of the kitchen! By the end of the day, I had results! Ten of my co-workers had pledged their support for Earth Hour, and seven promised that they would sign up that night. My total was 19.
Then came Earth Hour Eve and it was time to tally up the final number of signees. Unfortunately, three of the seven people who promised me that they would signed up, actually did, so instead of 26 being the final number, I managed a total of 22. Facebook, in the end, didn't work as planned; only four people signed up to my Earth Hour event, and they were my friends and the host of Book Club!
The Night of Nights!
On Saturday 31 March 2007, now affectionately know as "Earth Hour Night", our book club gathered by candlelight (no books were burned thankfully!). Fortunately, we had a wonderful view of the city. We wined, dined, debated, and marvelled at the disappearing lights. To be perfectly honest, the "turning off" of the city was a little disappointing; I thought it would be more dramatic, like in the movies. However, it was the lights turning back on that were the most spectacular. I realised how many organisations and individuals actually participated. I also realised how bright the city lights actually were. They were almost blinding!
Post-"Earth Hour"
After Earth Hour, I was curious to find out how successful the event had been. I was absolutely amazed at the number that had come out. Over two million people had participated in Earth Hour and energy usage for the hour dropped by an amazing 10.2%, which is double the anticipated amount. It was the equivalent of taking 48,613 cars off the road for the hour. To find more information on the success of Earth Hour, go to www.earthhour.com.
What Now?
Now, I wonder what else I can do. That one small act had such an enormous impact, there must be more that I can do. It just goes to show that no matter how small, actions can create big results.
