(another) earth hour (post)

earth hour really seems to me to be one of those environment-awareness-raising activities that raises my awareness of all sorts of unexpected things.

i wonder for example how many people whose lights and televisions i can see clearly from my window know that it is earth hour, but think the gesture of going dark is stupid or extreme.  i wonder what they are watching on television or what they could be talking about in their incandescent homes.  i wonder if they perhaps forgot about earth hour or if they have to be somewhere important at 10pm and can't take the time for one hour of reflection on the fate of the world.

i wonder if television media who claim to support the environment really wanted to put their backs into it, would they be willing to forego broadcasting any television at all for one hour.  or perhaps all of the cinemas could cancel the shows that run over earth hour.  there are already a number of bars and restaurants who run dark for an hour.  but to really do it right, no food should be prepared at that time (well, perhaps food cooked by natural gas), but of course drinks could be served... by candlelight.

earth hour raises my awareness that there are some people who care about a global-transgenerational problem, and there are some who do not.  the chronic conundrum for the ones seeking to improve the world through self-sacrifice and forbearance simply allow ambivalent exploiters to continue to live in excess.  while it is grossly unfair and unjust, it has also been the way that it has been since the beginning of time.  those who serve themselves first seem, and then actually do become strong quickly. while those who ration and save may outlast and endure, but only if the stronger one's don't seize what the reasoned one is saving.

and this is the same problem that applies to all precious things - fancy handbags at a boxing day clearance sale, having a high-flow shower head instead of a low-flow one, having an 8-cylinder vehicle when you only need 4, controlling all the fresh water on the planet, weapons of mass destruction, and of course, gold.  you name it.

these are the thoughts that i am having handwriting into my journal by candlelight (later to be translated for the internest).  i wonder if similar thoughts come to those people i see still watching their televisions in the surrounding buildings.  are they hearing the sound of unamplified, unprocessed sound?  do they see the absence of light generated by a regulated flow of electrons through a filament or a captured gas?  i don't see how they can - if they are thinking about what they are watching.

all this having been said, it IS encouraging to see that there are more lights off than on.  there may yet be hope for us.

- g

song of the hour for the earth: analyze, the cranberries