Can we be the generation who acts upon the solutions we have for the environmental crisis we are facing?

I began this article during Earth Hour surrounded by only tea light candles and – get this – using a pen and paper to compose my ideas. It felt like I was returning to the roots of my writing which began with the journals of my early teenage years.

Earth Hour is a brilliant idea conceived by Australian minds just over a year ago. This is a 60-minute period where commercial and residential buildings around the globe shut off their lights. The goal is to recognize the commitment required to help save our planet from the global warming trends we are experiencing; and it is surprising how big of a difference this one hour can make. Last year Sydney’s efforts alone reduced emissions equivalent to removing 48,500 cars from the road for one year.

All it took was one city, one hour.

This brings me to three simple words: “Yes we can” – crystallized by Barack Obama and quoted by Will.I.Am in his song of the same name. Yes, we can make a difference, no matter how small our individual parts might appear.

I am not here with a political agenda per se, because it is going to take more than one extremely charismatic and competent leader to bring about change, especially in regards to from where our energy is drawn. Such large scale transformations are often resisted because the initial paradigm shift and possible cost may be too large to accept. It takes a visionary concerned with more than his own personal gains to enforce such policies and show the general public their interests are contained in the actions towards such change. All I am concerned about is if there is a voice of authority that will actually step up to the plate, and doesn’t just leave us asking more questions and fending for ourselves.

Regardless, it is up to us as citizens to start moving – leaders just make the organization and implementation either a lot easier or a lot harder depending where their interests lie. Once presented with the choice of progression or stagnancy (upon the revelation of a complete spectrum of evidence), it is up to the global public to choose whether to participate or not. Everything we do in life can be broken down into a simple choice.

With Earth Hour, there are two choices with a third one implied:

1) Do I support the effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions with the goal of preserving our species, as well as the rest of the planet?

2) Am I going to participate in Earth Hour to actively demonstrate my support?

And the third implied question pries how deep-seated the commitment towards conquering climate change actually is:

3) Am I willing to take this effort further and apply changes to my everyday life?

Individual responsibility is what we need to embrace this late in the game, as we have collectively accepted and perpetuated our way of living. There is nothing wrong with our choices thus far – we continuously look for solutions that make our lives easier so that we can move on to the next, more important issues. Only once we learn the faults of our choices must we alter the course of our actions. Since we have discovered that our tapped reserves of energy will actually make our life more difficult should we continue their use, we need to take a step back, innovate and implement new sources. Easier said than done, but there are so many options in which advanced countries, states and provinces have already started investing; such as wind turbines, hydrogen fuel, solar and geothermal power. Hopefully this means the revolution in green energy is closer than we might think.

Public awareness is key – what may have once been novelty can become mainstream depending on how the idea is perpetuated. There are celebrities and organizers in the music industry who are making their positive mark when it comes to using green energy and reducing waste. The Barenaked Ladies integrate green initiatives with their touring plans like using tour buses that run on biodiesel, biodegradable food service items and composting. They are hoping to pen a manual to help other artists adapt the same initiatives into their subsequent tours. The new album Sleep Through the Static from Jack Johnson was recorded and produced using 100% solar energy. It would be an atrocity to leave out that the music festival SXSW this year adopted a carbon-neutral policy. Organizers worked with environmentalists to recycle as much waste as they could, and their year-round offices are changing their light bulbs and increasing the efficiency of their insulation. These are but a few small groups of people trying to make green energy a popular idea by setting excellent examples. They are saying ‘yes we can’ choose green initiatives that harmonize with our environmental values.

These applications can be deconstructed into choices or questions that initially came from one person. Someone’s verbalized brainwave started the chain of events that resulted in a slightly cleaner world. More effort is required than just ‘someone else’ doing their part, though – each and every one of us is accountable for the mark we leave on this planet. So can we make our mark as a generation who reduces our negative environmental impact?

Yes We Can.

earthhour.org