Earth Hour is a powerful reminder of what is going wrong with the environment – but Earth Hour is not the answer to what is going wrong. Turning off the lights, even for an entire month, isn’t about to save the world. We need to turn off the lights whenever they are not required and turn down appliances at home when not in use. We need to curb our consumerist tendency that results in the waste of power.

At pepper square we will attempt to further internalise the idea of responsible consumption, instead of trying to return to an idyllic past of darkness that everyone actually hates (but loves momentarily because of the romanticism evoked by the darkness). We need to push back the darkness in our minds, rather than manage the one around us.

For the moment, at pepper square, we make a resolve that if we are going to leave our desk for more than 30 minutes, we will power down our desktop before we go. Small steps, when you think of it. But significant and sustainable ones for us.