CTVNews.ca Staff
Pint-sized environmentalist Hannah Alper is encouraging everyone,
both young and old, to do more than just flick off their lights for the
seventh annual Earth Hour.
The ten-year-old animal lover and author of the popular environmental blog CallMeHannah.ca says everyone should take time to reflect this Saturday, between from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, on how they can live a greener lifestyle.
“I try to motivate kids and adults to see how special the environment is and how much we really need it,” Alper said on CTV’s Canada AM on Friday.
“Stop is a negative [pledge] but can be turned into a positive one,”
explained Alper. “Think of something you’re doing that’s harmful to the
environment and then write ‘I will stop littering, I will stop using
plastic water bottles.’”
Alper, who is an avid recycler and has a bin at home for reusable goods she donates to the Humane Society of Canada, lists a number of suggestions for pledges on her blog such as “I will organize a cleanup in my neighbourhood” and “Grow a garden and try to plant some of my vegetbales.”
“It makes you feel really good when you start doing it because you’re starting to make a difference,” said Alper, who had the opportunity to interview her role model, environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki’s daughter Severn-Cullis Suzuki, in February.
Alper said her favourite pledge is the ‘continue’ one which asks participants to persist with whatever eco-actions they begin.
“What’s so awesome about it is that you’ll realize you’re making a difference,” explained Alper, who has been named an Earth Hour team captain by the World Wildlife Fund, the global environmental group which organizes the event.
Earth Hour began as a Sydney-only event in 2007. The city’s iconic Harbr Bridge and Opera House went dim for the event. Last year, hundreds of world landmarks, including Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the Great Wall of China went dark for the annual event.
Across Canada, 511 municipalities promised to take part last year.
Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/kid-eco-blogger-s-earth-hour-imperative-do-your-part-1.1206636#ixzz2OPGuP5ImThe ten-year-old animal lover and author of the popular environmental blog CallMeHannah.ca says everyone should take time to reflect this Saturday, between from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, on how they can live a greener lifestyle.
“I try to motivate kids and adults to see how special the environment is and how much we really need it,” Alper said on CTV’s Canada AM on Friday.
Eco-blogger Hannah Alper on CTV’s Canada AM on March 22, 2013. –>
Her project, called the Stop, Start and Continue Pledge, asks
participants to download a ‘Pledge Certificate’ from her website, then
use it to jot down three eco-resolutions.
Alper, who is an avid recycler and has a bin at home for reusable goods she donates to the Humane Society of Canada, lists a number of suggestions for pledges on her blog such as “I will organize a cleanup in my neighbourhood” and “Grow a garden and try to plant some of my vegetbales.”
“It makes you feel really good when you start doing it because you’re starting to make a difference,” said Alper, who had the opportunity to interview her role model, environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki’s daughter Severn-Cullis Suzuki, in February.
Alper said her favourite pledge is the ‘continue’ one which asks participants to persist with whatever eco-actions they begin.
“What’s so awesome about it is that you’ll realize you’re making a difference,” explained Alper, who has been named an Earth Hour team captain by the World Wildlife Fund, the global environmental group which organizes the event.
Earth Hour began as a Sydney-only event in 2007. The city’s iconic Harbr Bridge and Opera House went dim for the event. Last year, hundreds of world landmarks, including Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the Great Wall of China went dark for the annual event.
Across Canada, 511 municipalities promised to take part last year.
Shame on all the old people who prefer to put their head in the sand
rather than acknowledge they have a personal and moral responsibility to
ensure the younger generations have access to a healthy and
economic-supporting environment. Stop being so darn selfish and
self-centered!
There are those of us who do the right thing – reducing power use –
year round because we have to, being on low or fixed incomes. If you are
on a fixed income, you reduce every cost as much as possible. A
thermostat does not have to be higher than 20C during the day even with
people in the home: there are things called sweaters to help keep a
person warm, just what was used before central heating came around. If
the home in empty during the day, why even keep it at 20? At night, and
when the home is empty, why not choose 15C? Blankets and comforters do a
good job – as they have for millennia – keeping the body warm in bed.
And lighting with LED bulbs is cheaper than CFL’s and fluorescent tubes;
and cheaper, too, if pro-rated over even half of the expected life of
the LED bulb. If a person is already walking the walk, why should they
symbolically switch off for a single hour? Far better that everyone
should examine their energy use habits and make some, if not all, of the
above mentioned changes. Earth Hour, is as some posters comment, purely
a means for self-satisfied people to pat themselves on the back and
pretend they are actually doing something, while at the end of the hour,
their energy usage peaks again as they return to Saturday Night Sports
on TV and all the trappings that go with it.
Luke and James Murphy have it correct, this poor girl has been
brainwashed along with quite a few others. If you want to make a
difference, start by cleaning up your own act. This “earth hour”
nonsense is nothing but a political stunt (Yes, STUNT) designed to get
fools to fall in line with the dictates of the organisers. The real
issues and problems are ignored.
@luke of canada, I don’t think it is the young lady (@jill) that was
brainwashed, (and maybe I can be included in the brainwashing thing as
well). It is easy to sit on ones hands and do nothing, as shown on a
couple posts, these people care only about themselves (me, me, me). But I
do think that her point is, she actually cares about the future of the
planet and the people on it, not just herself. I’m willing to bet that
the people that care have children or (in my case) grandchildren. I’m on
Hydro power but I’m still turning off lights and things anyway (not
selfish). I think the brainwashing actually happened to you @luke of
canada, and apparently it didn’t take much soap. P.S. Anyone with a few
solar lamps doesn’t need candles (we think outside the box).
someone should be charged for brainwashing this lovely young lady…
earth hour is a joke that actually increases emmissions! Electricity
generation is not reduced at all, only the demand but the plants keep
making it, so adding the billions of candles which give of CO2 net
increases the problem… and the notion that we should live with less is
garbage.. energy has been the one thing that is responsible for the
health, growth and success of mankind
Why is someone who is throwing a tantrum (re: I’m turning on all my
lights), giving advice on teaching children values? First off, Earth
Hour does not attempt to reduce GHG emissions. It is meant to be a
statement to politicians, corporations, and our neighbors that we care
about the quality of the world we live in. Regardless of whether or not
you accept science, you cannot deny the value of clean air and water.
Even if climate change were a hoax, who cares? What, are the negative
consequences of being a little responsible? A healthier, safer, prettier
planet to live on? Bummer…? I hear this all the time: “Kids play too
many video games, send them outside to play!” Many of us have said this,
or agreed with someone who did. That said, put your money where your
mouth is, practice what you preach…etc. Let’s start by giving them a
great “outside” to play in! Let’s give them puddles to splash in that
aren’t full of motor oil or untested chemicals; flowers to pick that can
only grow if pollinator species survive; bugs to collect; Fish to
catch; Birds to watch; Lakes to swim in, and bio diverse parkland to
explore. Let them not have to consume industrial waste when eating snow
or catching rain on their tongues! A person incapable of honest values
should not demand better values from other people’s children. When
someone has an over-abundance of self-interest, coupled with a real lack
of self-awareness, we ALL have a problem. Before demanding anything
from our children, you had better have something really good to say
about what YOU have contributed. Happy Earth Day!
Why get the kids to pick up the garbage. It isn’t them that throws
empty coffee cups and coffee trays out their car windows. Some
commenting adults should get off their lazy butts and do it themselves.
And turning on all your lights just proves adults are not as smart as
some of these kids. Apparently there is proof that some people AREN’T as
smart as a 5th grader.
I’ll be sure to do my part by turning on every light on my property.
This earth hour is a complete joke. You want to impact the environment?
Get the kids to pick up garbage in their community instead of filling
their head with politically motivated global warming nonsense. Putting
kids to work gives them a taste of reality, that throwing their
McDonalds wrappers on the ground requires resources to clean up.
This little lady is no the right track, but the event should be EARTH
DAY or EARTH WEEK; an hour just doesn’t cut it. We poison our air,
food, and water, drive animal species to the brink of extinction, then
say this didn’t happen and the results don’t exist, or lay blame on
someone or something else. Not taking responsibility for the results of
our actions is just criminal. If we have learned anything in the past
couple hundred years is how to rape and overuse our soil and
surroundings to make a quick dollar, albeit at the expense of the
environment as a whole. If we don’t have a respectful relationship with
Mother Earth, then we are doomed as a species.
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