Earth Hour came and went...

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), formerly known as the World Wild Life Fund created the ‘Earth Hour’ together with the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007. The idea was to focus the world’s attention to the need to conserve energy for the sake of ensuring the good health of the planet earth and life in it. Almost all 2.2 million residents of Sydney, Australia turned all non-essential lights and appliances that last Saturday of the month of March and the event was a success. The next year, on the same last Saturday of March, many other cities joined in and the Earth Hour grew as an event and a somewhat important statement on the need for urgent conservation action.

Just last week, on March 26 from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm was the designated the Earth Hour 2011. It so happened, it was when most of South Asia were watching the fourth cricket world cup quarterfinal between Sri Lanka and England, played under bright floodlights of the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. International Cricket Association (ICC) or Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) or for that matter, none of the sponsors or organizers did not think it necessary to publicly request even a gesture of support for WWF’s Earth Hour at the match.

Comfort zones

My friend Daya Dissanayake, e-author and creator of www.sadu.com, made a reference and a suggestion on a pre-event Facebook post in support of those appealing for switching off unnecessary lights and appliances. His was for the authorities in charge of cricket to consider a similar feat at the match. He in return got several brickbats from fellow Facebook bloggers. They suggested that we leave the cricket world cup alone and look for other ways to conserve energy.

That got me thinking of the very interesting phenomenon of ‘give us something comfortable to do, but don’t ask us to give away what we hold dear and enjoy most’. This indeed is the dichotomy we all face today in our quest for yearning for more and more. I myself realized that after turning off my television for an hour in solidarity with my brethren in conservation. I had missed some of the excitement created by Dilshan, Upul Tharanga and the Sri Lankan cricket team, in winning what was a rewarding match. I must confess that, that realization brought me a sense of discomfort and am certain that most among you will even think of me as a crackpot or mad man.

Planet’s health

The WWF together with several other environmental organizations and climate change activists like UNEP, 350.org, tcktcktck.org, avazz.org, ageofstupid.org also carved a niche with an attention seeking gimmicky outcome on the calendar of environmental concern. It is true, that these organizations attempt to do much to save the planet’s health on a daily basis too. Significant amounts of funds are used-up, much research is done and publications are made to shed light on issues and what are thought of as solutions. Many seminars, conferences, workshops and media events are held and the word that we must care for the health of Mother Nature is spread around, much like the gospel.

Waging war

Activists young and old have joined-in for decades now to drive the point home. There is much awareness about what is wrong and some among us are even standing-up to take note. Leaders of the world meet, in the cosy corners the likes of Davos (an epitome of simplistic living and the ski-resort that it is, on the other extreme). They also meet in the big cities, where they can travel back and forth, from the seemingly busy schedules they have, making war and then making calls to douse the fires that rage. Where then is the problem? We agree that there is a need to seek ways to ensure that we do not create both the necessary and sufficient conditions to trigger our own destruction. We, no doubt want to do good. Yet, we want to be in our comfort zones when we do that.

This, I believe is where we need to take a ‘back to basics’ view of the very core of our thinking. As we know them today, all social, economic and business models we have are developed within the backdrop of a structure of ethics that drive them. Ethics is defined as the branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality - that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice, etc. It is important for societies, nations and the world at large, from time to time, to revisit the basis of the ethical frameworks on which its fundamental structures are built-on. Given the current state of the world’s social, economic and environmental health, it is perhaps opportune now, for us to focus on these very fundamental premises.

Sufficiency economy

Asia and the Middle-East have been the germinating gene pool for almost all of the great religions of the world. While we have often unquestionably followed models of the dominant West, we have opted to ignore the many lessons we could learn from the great religions on self-sufficiency, frugality and on maintaining simple ways of life. We forgot that Small is beautiful and that it is a term used to describe the principles enumerated in ‘Buddhist Economics’ or the way to successful living as described in the many teachings of the Buddha. The orthodox Christian, Hindu and Islamic ways are no different. We have heard of the principles of a Sufficiency Economy, a concept brought out by the King of Thailand on the same thread of thinking. We sometimes make fashionable talk of the efforts of the former King of Bhutan of his country’s measure of development and success, through the national economic indicator of Gross National Happiness.

Regardless of what we have in our own belief systems and ethos in the East, the Western world’s predominant stance of ‘Big is better’ has been the driver of our greed-based lifestyle and business ethic through out the modern phase of what is today, touted as ‘development’. Greed is Good was in fact, a prominent signage I saw about a year ago, not in any big city in the US, Japan or Europe, but in India very near the ashram of the man who was the epitome of basic living, the Mahatma Ghandi. That was in front of a modern shopping mall in Hyderabad during the festivities of Id.

The cost of placing greed before need is manifest everywhere and around us in modern society. Over consumption, living beyond one’s means, dependence on speculative wealth without real savings to back it and the scant disregard to carrying capacities of the natural environment are but some of these traits. We have often ignored the good of the many in preference to those holding power and access to resources. Offering unlimited choice over need and necessity is a fundamental fault-line we need to track, in our social and economic system of today.

Every drop counts

Increased incidence of polarised behaviour driven by intolerance and greed has resulted in tensions never before seen. Terrorism is a phenomenon we see emerging as a result and waging wars on terror over the years have caused an enormous waste of resources both natural and financial. These could otherwise have served to minimise poverty, conserve water, other resources, manage causes for global warming, prevent incidence of pandemics and to build trust among peoples to eliminate causal factors that breed discontent.

The Earth Hour may have come and gone and Sri Lanka may get closer to winning the Cricket World Cup this weekend. The need and the yearning that leads us to want to participate in both events will continue to trouble and bother us until we seek to resolve it within ourselves. It must be the sum of many, making the collective. Never will it be the other way around and every drop counts in making that mighty ocean of the change we seek.

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