Smaller is sometimes better

With Earth Day approaching, communities around the city are gearing up to make over their neighbourhoods — for at least 20 minutes on any given day.

The Malvern community has several events to show it’s doing its part to keep Scarborough clean.

These small community efforts are arguably much better than larger-scale events hoping to raise awareness about global warming, such as Earth Hour.

The event this year was a bust, with little effort by people to dim or switch off their lights. Toronto Hydro reported energy consumption during Earth Hour went down 115 megawatts.

Sounds good right? Until you compare this to the year before, where there was a 296-megawatt decrease. Maybe colder temperatures played a part, or maybe people just aren’t buying into a one-hour “show of solidarity” toward such a large cause.

When smaller communities decide to clean up their act, they make a bigger impact. Sure, their efforts aren’t going to be recognized worldwide, but for every area the Malvern Community Coalition cleared up last week, they affected their community much more than turning down their lights would have.

About this article

By: Natalie Sequeira
Posted: Apr 21 2011 10:07 am
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Filed under: Opinion
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