It takes a village to save the planet?
On March 28th 2009 at 8.30 the whole globe was mobilised to switch off the lights for an hour. Earth Hour, what the campaign is called takes place every year since the first time in 2007 in Sydney. The campaign is set up by the World Wide Fund for Nature WWF to raise awareness of the environmental issue of global warming.
As a main communication tool to gather all the people and to organise some kind of grassroot activism served several social media. An Earth Hour group was created in Facebook which has 900,131 members, Youtube videos were distributed (amateur as well as professional ones), Twitter was used to distribute the message and several blogs were posted about the campaign.
Using Clay Shirkey words: “It takes a village…”
For this kind of cause the use of social media seems the best way to engage people, especially when taking into account that the campaign took place all over the world. To quote Clay Shirkey again: “A story can go from local to global in a heart beat”. A group of people can be mobilised very quickly for the right kind of cause.
Another advantage of the use of new media in this case is that people were encouraged to tweet or blog about it and upload pictures and videos about their experiences during the actual event. Therefore the basis for the next campaign was already set.
George Marshall regards this campaign as the most mislead one of its kind. He calls it a small, simple act, which is easy to publicise. What is wrong with that?
Well, it might not reduce emission significantly but it raised awareness, especially when important places like the Eiffel Tower in Paris switch off their lights or Coca Cola agreed to switch off their billboard at time square for an hour.
It might be a small and simple act, but through an easy worldwide distribution of the message the main aim of the campaign was reached: creating awareness. And it is an event which not only gathers lots of people but it has promotion opportunities for organisations as well.
This will raise awareness on the one hand for Earth Hour itself and its cause and on the other hand serve as an incentive for the organisation to take part. Again Clay Shirkey: “Without plausible promise, all technology in the world would be nothing more than all the technology in the world”.
As it is said in the Earth Hour group in Facebook: it’s about joining together and creating a vital conversation about the future of the planet – it’s as simple as a flick of the switch. And nothing more…
Clay Shirkey (2008) Here comes everybody. The power of organizing without orgnaizations London: Penguin Books Ltd.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I’m not sure who George Marshall is, but I kind of agree with his point.
Maybe I’m just really cynical as, although I think the idea of raising awareness on this issue is laudable, it seems to me that using electronic means, all of which require electricity, most of which will be produced using CO2 producing mediums, is counter-intuative if the net CO2 produced in promoting is greater than the CO2 saved during the Earth Hour.
That’s not to say that no-one should bother, on the contrary. I just think that in this instance it may not have been the best way. Sure, if you want to reach a lot of people with minimum effort, then electronic media is perfect. However, if you want to make a serious point about CO2 emissions, maybe something a little more old school would be better. After all, the harder you work to promote something, the more passionate people will believe you are and the more convincing you will be. Joining a Facebook group takes only one click……
April 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Wow, I like the idea of Earth Hour, but I didn’t hear anything about it, I wonder how i missed it!?
Maybe i’ve been too busy working to go on facebook!
Although this might nout have much practical impact on the environment, it certainly raises awareness of an issue, which is where real change can sometimes begin
April 26th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Anything that can grab people’s attention worldwide even for a second and make them think about their actions in this way is extremely positive.
I think Andrew, you are being a tad cynical with your comment. Electronic devices devour resources at a more or less constant rate anyway, and the long term implications of awareness of the issue could far outweigh the inevitable environmental cost.
An alternative would be to distribute fliers throughout the whole world; the envrironmental implications would be much bigger.
I can’t think of a more efficient way to reach a global audience than social media…