So Earth Hour is going to be on us yet again and like every year, I go away a bit more confused than happy.
The principal behind Earth Hour is great – raising awareness of the World’s impending environmental catastrophe – however like most advertising today, it seems happier promoting the problem rather than solving it.
Of course this is totally understandable when you remember the people behind the original concept were ad/marketing folk – Leo Burnett’s Sydney and Fairfax. [or it could be News Ltd, I can’t remember, but whoever it was, Leo’s were the ones who leveraged the idea to the greatest extent]
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate any action is good … and I appreciate that to truly turn this situation around requires some major, major changes – changes that go beyond you, I and countless billions of other ‘normal’ people – however for all the visual impact it has when the World presses ‘off’, it’s seemingly not changing people’s long-term attitudes towards climate change given the environmental issues are continuing to get worse rather than better.
Have I got the answer – no, and besides when you appreciate that for some developing nations, the environment will always play a distant 2nd to their quest for economic growth/strength/stability, you realise this is something the West may have to lead even though they’ll do all they can to resist, claiming it will undermine their own economic needs, despite the fact for many of them, they got to be so far ahead because they treated the environment with a similar distain as a man who ‘inherits’ a ginger haired step son – I am simply stating that we seem to be developing into a culture that is more about ‘impression’ than ‘action’, but hey … I’m as guilty as the next person … but not as guilty as this one. 🙂
Anyway, I’m going totally off track because at cynic we’ve decided to hold ‘Girth Hour’ during ‘Earth Hour’ which basically means stocking up on as much chemical ridden food as we can possibly get our hands on, and getting sponsored for each bag of crisps we can scoff down in an hour.
It’s abit of an unfair challenge given Andy’s creds in this arena, but given he has to also drink a bottle of beer inbetween each bag and being sick means you have to give $250 of your sponsorship cash to the other participants [it’s all going to the homeless] means it is anyone’s guess who will be crowned King [or Queen] of the “If You Are What You Eat, Then We’re Going To Be Crisps” challenge.
I have no idea why I have written this post – but then that’s the case with most of them isn’t it!