Earth Hour 2008 in Bangkok

On Saturday night, an anticipated 1 billion households and businesses will shut off their lights for one hour. It will be the third annual Earth Hour, promoted by the WWF, one of the largest global conservation organizations. An estimated 50 million individuals took part in Earth Hour globally last year. The event is guaranteed to be even larger this year with 1,189 cities already signed up in over 80 different countries for the voluntary blackout occurring at 8 pm on March 28.

The world’s two largest countries with the fastest growing economies, China and India, are included as first time participants this year. An additional 45 developing countries and emerging economies have committed to shut off their lights this weekend, up from the 9 developing countries that were involved last year. The event provides an opportunity for country leaders to affirm their commitment to addressing global climate change as they prepare to meet later this year in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference.

Thailand was among the first countries to practice Earth Hour. During the event in previous years the country has been able to decrease its electricity usage by approximately 1,400 megawatts. This year, Thailand’s Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, will chair the event in downtown Bangkok while Thais nationwide are encouraged to participate at home.

The lasting impact of Earth Hour is yet to be determined. It has created a widely publicized forum for discussing local action taking place globally. However, will it be able to move beyond symbolic? Bill McKibben, a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and cofounder of 350.org has argued that while symbolic actions such as carpooling, changing our light bulbs, and turning out lights are good, they are hardly efficacious in addressing a global crisis. He emphasizes that rapid and massive global change requires political mobilization and the backing of strict legislation on emissions and the funding of real research on needed technologies.

Supporters of Earth Hour stress that this mobilization of a concerned global community will act as “votes” for change. However, Earth Hour Executive Director, Mr. Andy Ridley, says that Earth is not only a movement for action on global climate change. He says “Earth Hour is an opportunity for the global community to speak in one voice on the issue of climate change, while at the same time coming together in celebration of the one thing every single person on the planet has in common– the planet.”

~Stephanie Gay