Be Part of Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour 2009 is set for March 28th at 8:30 local time. No matter where you are in the world you can participate. Turn off your lights and any other electrical items for one hour. That's it, just one hour without electricity. Can you stand it? Last year my family and I turned off the circuit breaker to our house and went completely black. It felt good to do something for my planet. The kids complained for a few minutes then we began to enjoy the quiet and the peace as we curled up in blankets on our back porch.

My only disappointment was that my city, Las Vegas, did not really participate in Earth Hour 2008. No one seemed to know about this event or care that it was going on. Tourists still walked the glowing neon streets, nothing was allowed to interrupt their fun.

This year is different. The tourists will have a different kind of treat. I'm proud to say that Las Vegas is a flagship city. The list of casinos and business who plan to turn off the neon is impressive and expansive. If they all follow through with their commitment the strip should be dim if not completely black. Now that will be a historic occasion.

I'm kind of sad that I won't be in town. I want to see and participate in this event. But again, where ever I am and where ever you are, you can turn off the lights and make a difference. Just imagine what would happen if we all did this once a week, or once a month?

Here is a link to my post about Earth Hour 2008. Enjoy!

Earth Hour - Missed It? Plan for March 29, 2009

This is a picture of Sydney, Australia during Earth Hour 2008. This past Saturday in cities and towns around the world people turned off their lights for one hour. The global warming awareness event was sponsored by WWF, the world wildlife fund.

At 8pm our local time my husband threw the breaker switch on our house and we went off-grid for Earth Hour. At first my son complained about missing the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and sulked on the couch. My youngest jumped up and down with excitement over sitting in the dark in the backyard. He thought it would be fun.

After a heated and hilarious debate about the amount of carbon emissions it would create we decided start a small fire in our chimenea and convinced our son to come outside and enjoy the fire. It turned out to be a relaxing hour spent talking and joking. We ate dinner by firelight and enjoyed each others undivided attention.

I don't know how much our effort helped to stem the tide of global warming. I'm sure it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket but that's okay. It gave us a reason to slow down. As I watched the sparks from the fire mingle with the starry sky, I said a little prayer that our children will have a healthy world to grow old in.

I wouldn't mind doing a power-free hour like this more often. I wonder what would happen if my whole neighborhood went off-grid for an hour or my entire community. Not only would we make a noticeable dip at the power plant but we might all be happier after an hour spent with the people we love.