WWF-Australia today announced a research partnership with University of Western Sydney (UWS) that aims to discover the secrets of Earth Hour’s success and monitor the campaign’s effects on people’s long-term behaviour.
This is the first time in Earth Hour’s four year history that, annual polling aside, an official research partnership will determine the ongoing impact of the global event.
The research will be conducted over the next 12 months and will focus on understanding the motivations of households participating in Earth Hour and the effects the campaign has on individual’s day-to-day behaviour such as changes in energy and water use.
"In line with the campaign’s Earth Hour, Every Hour mantra, we’ve always wanted Earth Hour to be a springboard for long-term change," said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne.
"What we want to find out in detail is whether the event inspires people to adopt more sustainable practices. Not just for one hour but for the whole year, helping to shape the delivery of Earth Hour into the future."
UWS is nationally recognised for its expertise in researching business, community and individual responses to sustainability messages and projects, including those relating to climate change, energy and water use.
In a recently completed preliminary study, Dr Abby Lopes from the UWS School of Communication Arts and Dr Tara Andrews from the UWS School of Engineering found Earth Hour, as an awareness raising strategy, plays a role in behavioural change.
"Earth Hour highlights the crucial links between everyday individual human behaviour and environmental impacts," said Dr Lopes.
"Unlike curb-side recycling and water conservation, energy consumption is largely private and invisible. Earth Hour has successfully brought an awareness of the environmental impact of energy consumption into the home."
However, Drs Lopes and Andrews found in their review of previous academic studies there remains a significant gap between the will of people to reduce their energy consumption and their ability to do so.
"People still don’t understand energy consumption very well. They aren’t fully aware of the amount of energy appliances consume during standby or the energy required to make the products and deliver the services they use," said Dr Lopes.
"More research is needed to fully explore how Earth Hour can help bridge the gap in the community’s knowledge and foster sustainable behaviour in the long term."
To encourage long term changes in people’s habits, WWF is urging everyone who participates in Earth Hour 2010 to measure their environmental footprint at www.earthhour.org.au – giving them an understanding of their true impact on the planet.
"Your impact is bigger than just your energy bill," said Mr Bourne.
"Unfortunately the average Australian has an enormous environmental footprint.
"We want people to make a resolution to do something this year to reduce the size of their footprint. This could be as simple as using more public transport, sourcing locally produced food, reducing the amount of packaging and waste in your homes, or switching to renewable energy.
"Earth Hour’s true power is in the millions of little things it encourages everyone to do."
More information
Jonathon Larkin,
Media Officer, WWF-Australia
0410 221 410, [email protected]
Paul Grocott,
Senior Media Officer, University of Western Sydney
0406-429-304, [email protected]