The world celebrated Earth Hour on Saturday, April 20, by switching off our lights for 60 minutes. As we do this every year, we continue to be a part of the global movement to fight climate change and save the environment. This expression of concern is overwhelming.
But beyond the Earth Hour, what do we do? Do we revert back to our old, damaging ways?
An American biologist David Blatchley, a Datu Bago laureate for his works in environmental and wildlife protection, showed everyone in the past few weeks how deep is out utter lack of regard for the environment is. His recent works on cleaning up clogged canals and drainage in Davao’s populated barangays have netted the ugly truth on the lack of concern not only by ordinary residents but also some barangay and city officials. Worse, for doing that, he was even branded a liar for allegedly posting recycled images.
For many years, we have used Earth Hour as an opportunity to express symbolic concern and support. However, genuine concern and support is not just symbolism but concrete actions. Instead of simply switching off, why not sit together in candlelight and take part in a community discussion and agree on some actions and solutions like cutting down on use of fuel and power, reducing car travels and cutting down or refraining on use of plastic materials. Simple, but concrete actions.
If Blatchley could clean up one canal and come back the following week seeing the canal filled with rubbish again from used plastics and stuff, what significance is there in Earth Hour?
Children and young people should be taught of their roles in this global issue. A lot of them are still unconscious of their misdeeds–like throwing away plastics from the food and beverages they consume–that are killing the planet.
They need to know what the situation is and how important it is to deal with it and to get involved.
The Earth Hour is a very powerful expression of commitment to fight climate change and other environmental issues but it is important to remember that we all – as individuals, government and private sector – need to take responsibility for figuring out how we can make a positive contribution from simple things like waste management to bigger things like lowering emissions and reducing our carbon footprints. Climate change and environmental degradation are undeniably major concerns and it’s all too easy to lose hope in the sea of bad news that we are all swimming in every day.
Yes, we can use the Earth Hour as an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to taking concrete positive action in our daily lives but we must also be prepared on what to do beyond “The Hour.” It’s what really matters. When all the publicity, when all the cameras and the hype are gone, that is when the real expression of commitment is measured.
