In the wake of sixty minutes of
self-imposed global darkness mathematicians and environmentalists will be
pairing up to crunch the numbers. Both will be looking for something
quantifiable while the latter will be unequivocally hoping for a marked
improvement over last years numbers. But, as any denizen of the web can tell
you, the results are already in.
A quick perusal of Earth Hour headlines on
Google News reveals that some areas saw marked improvements, while other are
sadly mired in stalemate. For instance, the city of Toronto made leaps
and bounds over last year’s energy-savings, outdoing reductions made by the
entire sprawling cityscape known as the Greater Toronto Area.
“Torontonians want to do what’s right for
the environment because they get it,” said Toronto Mayor David Miller. “It’s a
privilege to be mayor of a city that gets it.”
The city recorded a 15.1 per cent drop in
consumption over last year, while the entire province of Ontario
collectively registered a 6 per cent drop.
However it seems environmental compassion
is not a national phenomenon; for while the nation’s most populous city made
headway, other major Canadian cities reported no noticeable decline in
consumption. But things are rarely as they seem. For instance, Manitoba is a
province that witnessed a slight spike in power consumption. However, the
province is combating the potential flooding of the Red River, as well as sub-zero
temperatures. Expecting numbers to drop here would be more than a little
backwards. But Manitobans aren’t the only one’s facing a conundrum with Earth
Hour.
Broadcasters and news agencies, such as Canada’s
CBC, are on the one hand promoting energy conservation and on the other soliciting
viewers to tune in during Earth Hour for live coverage. Quoi?! One such station
was the CBC and to their credit they vowed to purchase carbon offsets to make
up for the air time but the initial proposition seems so antithetical to the
project’s impetus that it’s almost mind boggling.
But it all comes back to Google News and
the cursory search. As of 11pm Sunday night, a day before the papers role out
their weekend stories and actually being to recap Earth Hour that was, there’s
nearly ten thousand articles posted in the last day for North America alone.
Earth Hour is about one thing and one thing
only: awareness. Sure the purists won’t be turning on their TVs to watch CBC’s
coverage, but they’re already in the know. All the exposure, all the hype, it’s
for those that aren’t quite sure what impact our energy consumption is have and
is going to have on the environment. Sure, steps forward in major metropolitan
areas is fantastic, but so is the chiding form papers that report some cities
just aren’t ‘aware.’
Regardless of the energy saved, Earth Hour ’09
will stand as the most successful one. Yet.
