1. Earth Hour – Saving The Great Barrier Reef in ONE HOUR!
Russell Grenning
I can already feel the tremendous sense of excitement and that deeply pleasurable yet
morally uplifting feeling that something truly worthwhile will be achieved when I
contemplate Earth Hour and what can be done then.
Yes, at 8.30pm on Saturday 29 March, together we will save the Great Barrier Reef
by doing nothing more than switching off the lights for an hour.
The thrill of it all is such that I couldn’t wait – I hope this isn’t breaking the rules –
and last night I switched off the lights at 12.07pm and here it is already 2.26pm as I
write and I have withstood with a steadfast determination any temptation to switch the
lights back on. It’s the hitherto latent greenie in me coming out.
Yes, no lights for more than fourteen hours already so I think I’ve really made a
serious personal contribution to ensuring the survival of our coral wonderland. In fact,
I’m so utterly committed to this noble cause that I have vowed not to switch on the
lights today until about 6.30pm – perhaps even 6.35pm!. No half measures when it
comes to me – no wimpy namby-pamby single hour of lights off which, frankly, is
undoubtedly crass tokenism of the very worst kind.
Earth Hour is a fabulously worthwhile project fearlessly, courageously, bravely and
seriously driven by the World Wildlife Fund which founded this eco-miracle strategy
in 2007 and now, they tell us, it has been embraced by 7001 cities and 152 nations
across the globe.
We should be especially grateful this year to the WWF because, according to the
Earth Hour website, “ … in 2014, Earth Hour will focus attention on one of the
world’s most iconic and threatened places: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef”.
I don’t know about you, but I’m humbled by the thought that folks around the world
will sit in the dark for a whole hour just to save Queensland’s number one tourist
attraction. Just think about that for a moment – billions of people doing something
with a candle just for us. I do hope that they actually light their candles before they
flick off the light switch or there could be, well, nasty accidents, unintended
consequences and all of that.
The special Earth Hour website doesn’t muck about stressing the gravity of the
situation. “We cannot do this without your help” they proclaim in heavy black
letters. “Scientists tell us that if we don’t change our ways by 2030, the effects of
climate change on our Great Barrier Reef – and the species that depend on it – will
be irreversible,” is the grim prognosis.
Just which scientists tell us this we aren’t told and just why 2030 is so definitely
critical is also left unanswered. Mind you, I can’t think of one single thing I’ve ever
done that has so much as hurt one hair on the head of a coral polyp but – hell – we are
all in this together, aren’t we?

2. The Earth Hour website informs us that filming of the horrible damage being done to
the reef was planned to begin on 2 March so I guess by now our intrepid latter-day
Cecil B DeMilles are crawling over, diving into and generally pestering innocent
coral in their quest to discover just how awful things are. You are given the
opportunity to make a donation towards what I am sure will prove to be a definitive
epic at the website.
Some might think that to start what purports to be a documentary with a ringing
declaration of what it is expected to find doesn’t entirely show an even-handed, open-
minded, strictly evidence-based attitude and strict lack of bias but that clearly is the
view of an environmental vandal and climate change denier of the worst kind.
And in a display of altruism rarely, if ever, seen in the Australian media, Ch 10 is
donating – yes, donating! – a whole half an hour (yes, that is thirty minutes…gasp!) to
screen this feature. I’m sure you will tune in at 4.30pm on Saturday 29 March and it’s
just too bad if you were expecting “Everyday Gourmet” which is the usual feature at
that time. Being shocked into switching your lights off four hours later for one whole
hour is far, far more important than getting tips about nourishing family meals.
I dropped by the website of The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to get the
lowdown on this unfolding natural – not to mention national and even international –
disaster.
The boffins there are now completing the Outlook Report which will go to the Federal
and Queensland Governments by 30 June – the last was in 2009 – so they get updated
every five years which, to my mind, shows a somewhat languid approach to a
looming eco-disaster.
However, there are regular updates of their surveys. The last is dated last February
and it gives a summary of what they found from 1 December last year. A total of 489
surveys across 54 reefs was done.
Some of the summary highlights: “Conditions on the Great Barrier Reef remain
neutral according to the Bureau of Meteorology” and “The El Nino – Southern
Oscillation is within neutral range, indicating neither drought nor wet season
generally associated with El Nino or La Nina conditions. This is set to continue
through autumn 2014” and “Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean
have generally been near average.”
Perhaps the marine scientists and others who do this sort of survey lacked a classical
education and weren’t loaded up with really thrilling adjectives as kiddies like
“catastrophic”, “irreversible”, “disastrous, “unforgivable” and “appalling” and
have had to rely on “average” and “neutral” to convey their sense of incandescent
outrage at what is happening. Then again, perhaps not.
Of all of these recent surveys, 56% recorded healthy reefs, 30% recorded one type of
impact and 14% more than one impact. Reasonably OK seems to be the verdict
although the report card implies a “Could do better” admonition and fair enough.

3. The Authority – which stresses that it is a strictly scientific and independent outfit
with findings and conclusions that are peer-reviewed – concluded, “In most cases the
damage was attributed to anchors, marine animals and adverse weather conditions”
with “…low levels of minor damage to coral reefs as a result of tropical cyclones
Dylan and Edna.”
But remember, even this comparatively minimal level of adverse impact can be
reversed when you switch your lights off at 8.30pm on Saturday, 29 March for one
full hour. I know this is true because the World Wildlife Fund at least implies, if not
openly states, it to be true.
Mind you, I hope that some at least don’t rush to impose darkness then. We are under
the flight-path and, to be honest, the prospect of lots of passenger jets literally flying
blind above our modest workers’ cottage is somewhat unsettling.
And if the reef doesn’t immediately start its miracle of complete regeneration at
8.31pm on that Saturday evening we always have Earth Day – a whole 24 hours – to
Do Something Really Positive on 22 April.
I wonder if I can withstand the temptation to keep the lights switched off today until
almost 6.45pm? I do want to make a worthwhile contribution, don’t I?