at 8pm on the 29th of March?
Me? I’ll be turning off the lights, flicking the switches of all non-essential electrical items to the off position, lighting some candles and taking part in Earth Hour with D.
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney. During the first Earth Hour it is estimated that 2 million people and businesses turned off their lights for an hour and in doing so energy consumption during that hour is said to have been reduced by 10%. This year Earth Hour is being undertaken by people, businesses and cities all around the world.
The buzz in the press about Earth Hour might seem excessive to long term supporters of sustainability – Ruth does make a good point though about how people might be participating due to negative reasons — but anything that raises awareness about the need for action against global climate change has to be a good thing. Hopefully, after awareness comes action.
So, will you join me?
Hmmm…how much daylight do you have these days at 8 pm? It’s about 7:50 pm right now here, and it’s pitch black. Though I suppose we could bust out the dusty old oil lantern, or even some romantic candles….
(Do I need to talk myself into this?)
*I* would like to. My husband though thinks it is quote “a silly idea” that will inconvenience us and not help the world at all. Hopefully I can change his mind.
Despite my cynicism about the whole exercise I’m busy baking a cake to take to our Community Pot Luck Dinner for Earth Hour. We plan to eat at 7pm, and turn the lights off at 8. Could be fun!
Kristine: It won’t be pitch black but there won’t be a whole lot of light — the sun sets at 7:12 and last light is at 7:42… Normally we’d be turning the clock back tonight for the end of daylight savings plus it’s overcast. Time for me to break out the candles, I think.
Ms Make Tea: D is a little cynical about it as well and is wondering who he will manage without television for an hour but he brightened up when I reminded him that we probably have enough battery power on the laptop to get him through an hour. Did your husband change his mind?
Ruth: I hope you had a great time at the Pot Luck Dinner. There is a gathering in the city tonight but the rain has rather taken the gloss off the idea of that for me.
Yes, he did in the end- but purely to humour me & TBH he was rather surly about it!! However it wasn’t too bad- we played a card game by candle light and our kid happened to get up for the last bit and wanted to know what was going on and we explained we were celebrating Earth Day by turning off the lights & sitting quietly with candles and he explained to her about the importance of caring for the Earth like in the Lorax & we said she could stay up with us and think quietly about that for the remaining few minutes which she seemed quite pleased about. So that was actually quite sweet and it made the whole thing make sense as a ritual rather than as a political protest- and as secular atheists we don’t really have that many rituals so I think we might do it again next year.
Now the lights are on, I’m back on the laptop and my husband is back to playing a superviolent game on the Wii, of course
D played along with me — we ended up going for a walk along our street. Most of the businesses still had there lights on, as did most residences. However, there were two restaurants which had signed up and the patrons were dining by candlelight. Our hour was actually about an hour and a half long, we were enjoying the silence and the dark so much. The lights seemed really harsh and the television overly noisy when we turned them back on.
I like the sound of how your hour ended.
I’m ashamed to say I totally forgot until 8.50, then we hurriedly turned out the lights (we only had a couple on anyway and always switch appliances off at the mains when we’re not using them). Then we did our own earth hour. It was a bit depressing to look out of the window and see the usual office lights blazing out. Hardly anyone around here participated.