Should the ‘Earth Hour’ be a practice or a moment? (7B Kiki Fong)

Earth Hour – a yearly campaign encouraging people to turn off lights for one hour is thought as a success. Some environmentalists suggest the activity should be held every month. Write an article for your school magazine saying why you think this is or is not a good idea.

Climate change can be considered as one of the harmful effects of global warming, which is also a global crisis that we should pay undivided attention. ‘Earth Hour’ is an annual campaign held by the World Wide Fund for Nature that aims at raising awareness of environmentalism. It is considered a decisive victory. Some environmentalists are discussing whether this movement should be made monthly rather than yearly. Yet, I am against this idea for the following reasons.

Firstly, making the ‘Earth Hour’ a monthly campaign may reduce its effectiveness. Clearly, a monthly ‘practice’ is much less appealing than a yearly ‘movement’. The ‘Earth Hour’ is a great achievement because the concept of ‘green city’ successfully strikes people by gathering countries to turn off their lights for an hour. People have been stunned by the difference and could realize the notion because they have experienced the difference between the hour of light-out and other bright nights. However, if it is done monthly, people would get used to it soon and the effect would fade out. Take the Olympic Games as an example, if this international sports festival were held yearly instead of every four years, it would not be that attractive and people would not care the event that much, so is the ‘Earth Hour’.

Another thing we should bear in mind is that a monthly ‘Earth Hour’ is actually not practical. Turning off the lights for a single hour is sweet. However, it will become annoying when it becomes many ‘hours’ as what we are facing is not just an hour of unusual blackout but hours of frequent blackout. Famous scenic spots, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Opera House in Sydney and the Big Ben in London would all turn off their lights to support the ‘Earth Hour’. If they all go dark every month, tourism would doubtless be affected. This is not a good sign to all cities. Very soon, people would feel great inconvenience caused and would abandon the movement.

Some enthusiasts have stated that turning off the lights once a month is not just a save-the-earth campaign but also a way to help solve the light pollution problem. Doubtless, switching off the lights for an hour every month simply has a symbolic meaning but really does little in solving the light pollution, needless to say climate change. Despite the support from the government and part of the commercial sector, there are still countless buildings in the city, staying bright and shiny throughout the night. Global warming cannot be easily solved by simply implementing the ‘Earth Hour’ campaign. Although it is a very great step in linking the world together to fight this global crisis, it is not the ultimate solution to the problem.

To tackle climate change, we must make a group effort. Education at school is essential. We must keep supporting the yearly ‘Earth Hour’ campaign, and also green groups like Greenpower and the Friends of the Earth. Our Earth’s future is in our hands. Together, we can make this single gloomy and dark night bright and green.