Earth Hour: Hype or hope?.

BY VOLTAIRE TUPAZ
April 4, 2012

MANILA, Philippines – The numbers are in and they glow in the dark. Online, interest in the global movement went viral, catapulting “Happy Earth Hour” to the top of trending topics on Twitter worldwide as the 60-minute switch-off reached Southeast Asia.

Offline, participation was phenomenal, reaching more than 1 billion people in 6,525 cities and towns across 150 countries and territories. Observing it in the country, Andy Ridley, the co-founder of the biggest environmental gathering in human history, declared that “Earth Hour is more fun in the Philippines.”

But some were not as happy, raising issues that cast a shadow on the impact of turning off lights to turn people on to action. Rappler took note of 3 questions that surfaced in the course of its coverage of Earth Hour 2012:

Is the movement sustainable?

Is the motive questionable?

Is public policy favorable?

Impact

The immediate impact in terms of energy saved seemed to pale in comparison with previous records.

During the 60-minute switch-off on March 31, energy consumption across grids showed a drop of at least 362 MW, lower than last year’s 418 MW, organizers admitted.

The highest registered local energy savings linked to Earth Hour was pegged at 611 MW in 2009, a year after the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines introduced the movement in the country. The conservation group likened it to temporarily shutting down a dozen coal-fired power plants.

WWF-Philippines vice-chair and CEO Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan explained that the smaller drop was due to power shortages across the Visayas and Mindanao.

“Our focus should not be how much power was saved or who topped Earth Hour or what. What matters is that we try to go beyond the hour,” Tan added.

A record 1,671 cities and municipalities in the Philippines joined the largest global climate action yet, making the country an Earth Hour champion for 4 consecutive years.

Read full article @ www.rappler.com

Human Rights Online Philippines does not hold copyright over these materials. Author/s and original source/s of information are retained including the URL contained within the tagline and byline of the articles, news information, photos etc.