Turn off the lights, take it slow

Candle Night Summer Solstice 2007, June 22 - 24, 8 - 10 p.m. Do something special. Read a book with your child by candlelight. Enjoy a quiet dinner with a special person. This night can mean many things for many people. A time to save energy, to think about peace, to think about people in distant lands who share your planet. Pulling the plug, opening the window to a new world. Awakening to human freedom and diversity. It is a process, finding a larger possibility of the human civilization. By turning off lights for only two hours simultaneously, we will all be loosely connected. Let's make a "wave of darkness" spread over the globe together. On the evening of Summer solstice, June 22nd, for two hours from 8 to 10 p.m. Turn out your lights, take it slow.

This is the message of the Candle light campaign. On June 24, 2007, Japanese and South Korean non-governmental organizations will hold a "Lights Down" event. At 8:00 p.m., the lights in Tokyo Tower will turn off, and candles will be lit across Shiba Park. At 9:00 p.m. the N Seoul Tower will turn off the lights, and a candle performance will be held there. The South Korean event will be seen live on a solar panel screen set up at the event site in Tokyo.

To share messages about the event a special section of the website is made available for Japanese participants. This is the seventh time the event takes place. In 2006 over 7 million people participated. I was first made aware of this during the IUCN CEC meeting on Deep Change in November 2006. Junko Edahiro, Chief Executive of Japan for Sustainability , the brain behind the campaign made a presentation during this workshop and I immediately liked the concept. It invites people from all walks of life to taste aspects of a sustainable lifestyle in a pleasant way. A positive message about behaviour change. It just provides the opportunity to do something simple, without any difficult message or preaching about sustainabilty. Just experience the small first step: quality time - education and learning may come later, or may not. A good example of marketing for positive change.