You can change the world by doing it in the dark
By Jason Jonathan Joseph

Style of Journalism: Advocacy Journalism

Even if it is just for an hour, you can do some interesting things in the dark... with the lights out and a few
candles lit, even only for an hour. Switch all the electrical appliances and lights off and do it in the dark.
Polish those shoes in the dark. But there is so much more you can do in the dark too.

“But it is National Cleavage day,” says someone on Facebook, “why would you want to switch off all the
lights?” Well, what better excuse to set a romantic mood. Plus you will be proving to yourself that if you
can give the earth a break, even if only for one hour.

It starts with the Earth Hour campaign, then you can start doing at as part of your own personal
campaign to save the world.

It’s about bringing awareness. Earth Hour is not the easiest thing to accomplish though. People are very
precious about their electricity and electronics even letting it go for an hour. Especially those who say
that for them their “Earth Hours this year alone can cover 1000 people.” Just by bring awareness to a
campaign that was coming up, awareness is raised again of existing dire situations. Over Twitter, in
response to an Earth Hour countdown Nhlanhla Dube said: “...how do you conserve something you don’t
have? [There is a] big difference between not driving your 4x4 to save fuel and walking because you
don’t have a car.”

From the serious concern-raising issues to the frivolous jocular attitudes, Earth Hour warrants many
different reactions from people. By merely exposing the users of social networks like Twitter and
Facebook to a countdown to Earth Hour in a bid to raise awareness and consciousness, people either
poke fun at the issue or demand answers as to why they should even care. Being an advocate for an issue
isn’t easy. How does one respond to Dube’s statement that there is a difference between “driving your
4x4 to save fuel and walking because you don’t have a car,”? It is a small step, but we raise awareness
and great a fuss and then we make those responsible answerable when they see that this is too big a
hullabaloo.

Earth Hour started 7 years ago in Sydney Australia. In 2009 it received the support of 4000 cities in 88
countries and last year a total of 128 countries showed their support. The event is organised by the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is one of the most prevalent and esteemed conservation organisations in the
world. This year a record of 134 countries took part in earth hour. It starts small, but soon it will make a
big difference.

On the Rhodes University campus many an individual and society made an attempt to raise awareness
and just do something about Earth Hour. In the Botanical Gardens on the Rhodes University Campus
societies and individuals came together to on 26 March to celebrate Earth Hour and raise some
awareness. Drum Society, Bua Poetry and Voices of Glory were in the Botanical Gardens to add their
forces to help raise awareness. On St. Peter’s Lawns, a vigil by candlelight took place, whilst participants
listened to an interesting astronomical demonstration at the same time. A group of students – Ashleigh
Hayward, Isabelle Anne Abraham and Jason Joseph – added their two cents to the Earth Hour campaign
by creating flyers and distributing them to the students in their residence: Olive Schreiner, Truro and
Botha. They also Tweeted and Facebooked about it.

These are small attempts to raise awareness, but they are raising awareness. The Great Wall of China was
started with one small brick, now it can be seen from outer space. Let us start small with these campaigns
raising awareness. Once there is awareness then the forces who can do something about it cannot claim
ignorance and we can demand change that matters! Earth Hour is a start. Keep changing the world,
saving the world, in the dark – it will decrease your electricity bill at the end of the month too.