Today, March 27 marks the day that millions of people around the world will turn off their lights from 8:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M.
The Earth Hour website describes this worldwide event as such:
“On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. Learn more about how Earth Hour began, what we’ve accomplished, and what is in store for 2010.”
This symbolic act will be easy for me, as my husband and sons are out of town for the weekend, so it will just be lonely ol’ me, sitting in the dark.
Will you be participating?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I will not be participating in ‘Earth Hour’. Instead, I will be participating in ‘Human Achievement Hour’ – celebrating all that humans have accomplished!
I didn’t know about Earth Hour, but since we go to bed at 8:30 pm, our lights were out. lol
Of course, given that they have to come on again at 4:40 am, I don’t suppose I deserve any bonus points.
By the way, I am SO jealous of your quiet weekend. I could use something like that.
Allow me to point out that your sleeping patterns are much closer to natural light patterns than most US’an’s are. From an environmental point of view you get bonus points every day, not just tonight.
We’re having guests for dinner tonight, who will most likely still be here at 8:30. Maybe it would be fun to have a candle-lit dinner? That might just be too “romantic” for these particular guests, though. Hmmmm….
No, I am not. I don’t have tons of lights turned on at any given hour, in order to save the cost of our electric bill, but it takes more carbon intensive forms of power to quickly power the grid back up again when everybody who participates turns their lights back on 30 seconds after the hour is over.
The head of campaigns at WWF said, “Earth Hour is not about saving energy, rather raising awareness”.
I get that makes me very unpopular with some, but it seems to do more damage in the practical to participate.
That’s just me though, and I am sure it won’t be a popular opinion.
I’m with you, Kris. I think this is a meaningless gesture. Who is going to receive the message? The power companies? The government? It’s just a big feel-good PR event for the greenies.
Sorry, folks, but I’m waaaaaaay too cynical for Earth Hour.
Candles…a nice warm tub…bliss!
Yes, we are participating! Going to turn off everything we can (power strips, etc), and then throw the breaker. We’re also going to try to “last longer” than 60 minutes so that we won’t be contributing to a surge when we turn our main breaker back on.
We’re doing this to help the kids be more aware of how much we depend on electricity for normal life, entertainment (TV, computers) etc.
This is the usual practice at our house. We rarely turn our lights on. Mostly we use candles but have small led flashlights too.
Our home is designed to let in a lot of natural light. In the evenings we use antique oil lamps. It brings us into a more quiet state and thekids feel like we are plalying “Old West” or camping. This is a nightly ritual, so yes we will be participating. With three skylights we won’t need to turn on lights tomorrow morning either 🙂
Hmm . . . I just spent earth hour writing up a new blog post. I do have all the lights off in the house except the room I happen to be in at the moment. I’m not actually a have fan of action that’s just is for “awareness.”
I need light to hang my laundry on the line. And the house is a big mess and I don’t want to clean by candlelight. It is NOT romantic to clean out the litterbox that way. 😉
Katy
I forgot about it entirely – we were all sitting around feeling very weak from some wicked virus. I may make the household pay a penance of candlelight vespers tonight to start Holy Week!
As for being an empty gesture – we make ‘gestures” all the time. All those bumper stickers and ribbon ornaments to show support for the troops, breast cancer awareness – and ohsomany other things. It’s okay to make gestures of support. At least Earth Hour doesn’t cost us anything!