Every year, millions around the world switch off their lights for Earth Hour, often thinking of it as a gesture of conservation.

But for Greenrock, which led Bermuda’s participation three weeks ago, the focus is on something far deeper than a brief dip in electricity use.

“I don’t think most people fully appreciate what the lights-out initiative is about. Many people initially thought that [it] was an opportunity to save electricity, and it's not really about electricity. The lights-out initiative is more a symbolic gesture,” said Eugene Dean, the chairman of the environmental charity.

“The idea is that if you can get people all around the world engaged in a single action, and be able to quantify that collective effort, it can be an indicator for how much support there is in an individual country and around the world for nature-positive action.”

Nature-positive action refers to programmes, laws and everyday choices that protect and restore the environment, he explained. As such efforts are only successful if governments feel pressured to act, Earth Hour is about “influencing leaders to make legislative changes that lead to major shifts in outcome”.

On March 22, Mr Dean was encouraged by the public support received from the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, Axa XL, the Corporation of Hamilton, the Corporation of St George, the Bermuda Land Management Corporation, schools and other groups.

“From that regard, we know that the message is getting around. One of our biggest challenges is being able to really quantify that,” he said.

This year, Greenrock introduced an initiative called “time banking” that the charity hopes to continue year-round. The idea is to track the time people spend on nature-positive actions — anything from beach clean-ups and tree planting to learning or teaching about nature.

“We recognise that time is a really valuable asset, and if we can log the time that we spend engaging in nature-positive action, then we can quantify our support for nature and wildlife,” Mr Dean added.

The hours logged locally can then be added to the World Wildlife Fund’s global “hour bank”, which ranks countries based on the time their citizens dedicate to environmental efforts.

“We have a big button on our website for time banking. You click on that, and you can put in what you've committed to do. You can do that before or after you do the activity,” the green advocate said.

“The idea is that we will be able to take all that data and show what support there is for the environment and use that as leverage to inspire others to act in that way and, most importantly, to inspire our policymakers to put things in place that reflect the love and support that our community has for nature and the environment.”

Financial stress can make it harder for people to focus on environmental issues, but it’s a situation we’ve largely created for ourselves, he said. Fifty years ago, most people kept animals for food and had gardens in their backyards

“Now we don't have the time to deal with taking care of chickens or gardens, because we're too busy making money to buy food. So this is where the lifestyles that we've embraced in an effort to progress really leave us questioning whether we've progressed or whether we're finding ourselves further behind,” Mr Dean said.

“The absence of home gardens and community gardens and neighbourhood farmers has contributed greatly to the situation we find ourselves in. Does it make sense for us to spend time producing food, or is it better for us to focus on making money to buy food from others who have chosen to take on the responsibility of producing?”

He said it was time for real conversations about the benefits of returning to nature, and that many traditional practices replaced by modern conveniences might be worth bringing back.

“At Greenrock we're always advocating for a change in mindset, where you have a mindset that's more focused on sustainability, on living in harmony with nature, that recognises nature as being the source and sustainer of all creation for us versus a mindset that focuses primarily on financial gain, on consuming and convenience,” Mr Dean said.

“It’s that convenience that has played a major role, because we want everything to be easy. We want to take the path of least resistance. The sacrifice always comes before the reward and if there's very little sacrifice, if any, involved with convenience, then it would make sense that there's very little reward as well.”

• Greenrock has organised a series of environmental activities for this month. The first was a community clean-up at Kindley Field last weekend. A nature-healing walk takes place at Cooper’s Island Reserve on Sunday from 8am until 11am. On April 19 there will be a talk on sustainable farming at Food Forest in Sandys, and on May 4 a railway trail ride from Waterville to Dockyard. Participation is free for Greenrock members and $35 for non-members. For more information or to register, visitgreenrock.org