Happy Earth Day to all who celebrate! Yey! Let’s save the planet in one day! Go us!

If you’ve detected any sarcasm dripping off those words, you’d be right. Did you know that this week is World Immunisation Week? Or that yesterday was National Tea Day here in the UK? Or that today is also National Pin Up Day in the US? Me neither – fortunately there are several helpful websites that list all the international/national days so you can find out what you are meant to be being aware of at any particular date.

The virtue signalling response would be “today, I’ll be doing what I do every day – working tirelessly to save the planet”, but that’s not my point. If awareness hours/days/weeks actually worked, I’d have known all about National Tea Day yesterday, but it passed me by. I did drink at least one cup of tea – does that count? I didn’t notice any pin-ups that I can remember.

And the broader point is, expending valuable time and energy on something that doesn’t really work isn’t really a luxury we can afford. It’s like environmental champions – many organisations spend a lot of time putting them in place and then find they don’t know what to do with them (there are roles for champions, but that’s a different matter). You need an objective above and beyond “raising awareness”. Awareness doesn’t necessarily lead to action – you need to plot that path for people.

I’m not saying don’t bother, but if you decide it is worthwhile to schedule activity to coincide with a particular awareness day, make sure you have defined the audience you want to reach and have set concrete objective (or three) for reaching them, and focus the activities to meet that objective. Otherwise you may as well not have bothered.

By the way, it is German Beer Day tomorrow. I could be persuaded 🍻.