Earth Hour Revisited

 

 

 

Earth Hour: Date – 28th March, Time – 8.30pm, Location – Worldwide

 

Did you know it was happening??

 It seemed the my local area were vastly unaware of this important event, not only letting it slip by, but failing to contribute towards it in any way, shape or form.

 With global participation, Earth Hour certainly made a large impact across the globe. People all over the world turned off their lights, tv’s and even stereos to save energy between the hour of 8.30 pm and 9.30pm.

 Some major power plant companies boasted a 500 megawatt save, whilst others enjoyed a “Glastonbury -esq” styled party.

 But what did Birmingham do in the wake of this environmental celebration?

 It would seem – nothing.  Speaking to Earth Hour enthusiast James Rock I was shocked at the lack of support from the Birmingham City Council, as he retold his efforts to get the city to participate.

 ”Birmingham missed a trick here. We needed to elevate ourselves to the international stage and this was the perfect opportunity.

 ”After contacting the city council, I was forwarded to the environmental sector but they never got back to me. The event just didn’t seem to capture the imagination of the seniors.”

 Although there’s thoughts that Birmingham should have made a contribution, Mr Rock did suggest the seasonality of the campaign may have had an effect on the UK response.

 ”It’s the middle of summer over in Australia, its no wonder they can have an open topped event. Whereas, in the UK we’re not able to turn off the street lights without inflicting health and safety regulations.”

 However, the lack of commitment from the city council does not mean that efforts were not made in Birmingham.  The well known Custard Factory in Digbeth knelt down to the environmental campaign and more efforts were made on an individual basis. 

 Mr Rock revealed his quiet candle light hour, enjoying the pleasantries pre electricity.

 ”The only concern I have is the cost of candles” he joked.

 The Earth Hour campaign celebrated its third birthday this year, growing bigger and bigger every year. With over 2,800 cities taking part, it would seem Birmingham, as the second biggest city in the UK, failed to prove itself.

 I am still interested in the individual efforts made across the West Midlands, and have contacted British Gas and N Power to try and get some figures to show an allegiance or ignorance of the event last Saturday – but am yet to have anything substantial.

 Having been passed from press office to press office, I am now set with the challenge of contacting the National Grid.

 In the meantime, I would like to know what you got up to.  If, like Mr Rock, you enjoyed a quite electricity free night in, or if you participated in any of the national events taking part up and down the county (side stepping Birmingham of course.)

 If such a colossal structure, such as Big Ben, could switch off to contribute to the campaign, surely turning the TV off for an hour wouldn’t have been that hard?