This Saturday will be another Earth Hour, when people all over the world, including Anguilla (see related story), turn off their lights for 60 minutes to show support for the environment. The initiative has grown since its first edition in 2007, last year involving hundreds of
millions in some 127 countries.
Obviously this annual action is mostly of a symbolic value, because an hour less of energy produced with fossil fuels is not going to stop air pollution and global warming. However, it sends a strong worldwide message of public awareness regarding the issue.
Ambitious goals in that sense were again set at the latest Climate Change Conference, of which it’s already doubtful whether they can in fact be met. Nevertheless, certainly inhabitants of an island particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels could at least try to make some kind of contribution.
They can do so by taking part and switching off all their lamps starting at 8:30pm on Saturday. Of course, it remains important not to compromise one’s safety and use, for example, candles to still illuminate security-sensitive areas.
Being in relative darkness for a limited time actually can be quite refreshing and perhaps even have a calming effect in today’s stress-filled society. Normally it’s the result of outages and raises concern as to when the electricity will return, but in this case that’s not a problem.
In the event there actually should be GEBE power cuts in certain districts during that same hour, which – let’s face it – would not be all that surprising, residents who are affected might want to consider this a sign that they too need to think about their personal carbon footprint.
