Earth Hour. Tonight at 8:30. I'm wondering whether we'll bother to observe this year to be honest. When Earth Hour began in 2007, with the call to turn off the lights and reduce energy consumption, it was a big deal around the planet. There was lots of press coverage and in some cities there was a drop in consumption by as much as 20%. Actually, year five, which was 2011 was the biggest in the brief history of the event, the largest ever voluntary action for the environment, world-wide. Then interest and involvement began to...flicker? Perhaps people had got the message in terms of switching to more energy efficient lighting (we have) and thinking of lights on unnecessarily as akin to leaving a tap running. Or maybe we quickly become indifferent to causes. It's hard to say.
I served a congregation with lots of young families in 2007 so we made a real effort to invite our folk to observe Earth Hour as a Creation Care project. People got out their candles and played board games and generally made the event fun.
I hadn't realized that the organizers have moved Earth Hour a week earlier in years when it coincided with Holy Saturday on the Easter Weekend, and that Israel chose another day so it wouldn't fall on the Jewish Sabbath.
Awareness and symbolic acts are always important, so I'm glad Earth Hour came into being. Let's pray that the goals of conservation and planetary stewardship don't go dark. We need them now more than ever.
Did you observe Earth Hour along the way? Will you this evening?
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