Does Earth Hour really help cut emissions? Report suggests BC participation declining
Posted March 23, 2018 6:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s an event aimed at raising awareness about climate change — but a new survey suggests we may be motivated to take part in Earth Hour tomorrow night by a different kind of green.
Participation in the annual global event has been declining in BC.
BC Hydro says over the past few years, fewer people have been taking part — turning off the lights for 60 minutes for the event.
The event is backed by the World Wildlife Fund. Canadian CEO Megan Leslie says it’s a symbolic event that isn’t about cutting emissions for an hour, and it has made a difference.
“It’s not really about the energy savings. It is really much more about that symbolic gesture to say, ‘We care about the environment.'”
“You can argue whether or not the actions are strong enough or fast enough. But at least the world is paying attention,” she adds.
But a new report (below) from BC Hydro says the environment is not top of mind in this province when it comes to power-usage.
“While we know BC and British Columbians care about the environment, when we asked them what motivated them to conserve electricity, they told us that saving money was their primary driver,” says Susie Rieder with BC Hydro.
“Only about 15 per cent of British Columbians surveyed said that their prime motivation for saving electricity is the environment,” she adds.
So, it appears most British Columbians conserve energy to save money, not the earth.
“If we look at Earth Hour from a climate change perspective, it does seem to lack the gravity here in BC.”
The utility has noticed that, from an energy perspective, participation in Earth Hour has been declining in our province.
BC Hydro says the province-wide, there was a reduction of energy usage during last year’s Earth Hour of just 0.3 per cent, compared to two per cent in energy savings back in 2008.
