We had a wonderful time last night from 8 to 9pm. And were very surprised when we turned out the lights: much of our town had turned off their lights as well! Wow. Our little town of 1,600 people is certainly not an official participant in Earth Hour, but they had heard the word.
Did you enjoy your hour? We loved it. We ate a homemade dinner by candlelight, we watched the stars, we talked as we sipped local wine. Our hour turned into an hour and a half. It was peaceful, relaxing, and we were saving power.
Yesterday Allie and Jayedee wrote in the comments that they were considering doing this once a week. Matt and I were thinking the same thing. (I got so excited about the idea, I came back a day early. But no worries, I had my Tech Free Day earlier in the week!) Since the Technology Free Day Challenge is officially over today, we have to fill that void somehow. And this one is a lot easier, too!
An Hour For The Planet.
Just one hour in the evening, once a week, turn off your lights. That’s it.
Matt and I will be turning our lights off from 8 to 9pm on Fridays. Friday nights are Pizza Night here, so we decided we’d eat our homemade pizza and local wine by candlelight! Romantic, beautiful, peaceful.... mmmm.
If Friday nights don’t work for your family, pick a time that does work. I highly recommend picking one time and staying with that time each week. When it becomes part of your family routine, you’ll enjoy it and stick with it each week.
Do something fun during that hour. Play board games. Go for a walk. Host a Planet Hour get-together. Read to your kids by candlelight. Have a lovely homemade dinner with local ingredients. Enjoy a local glass of wine and watch the stars. Listen to your hand-cranked radio. Pull out your guitar. Revel in the strength of human connections. Know that big changes can come from your small actions, when we all work together. Even follow Katie’s example, and put a candle in your window to signify your efforts.
If you want to do even more, that would be amazing - feel free to add rules for yourself. For instance, Matt and I will also turn off computers and other electronics at their power strips for that hour. Others might spend that time with their kids, learning more about the planet. The WWF has some ideas here.
Why Participate?
There are personal benefits to taking part. You will be part of a group of people all working toward change, you will be giving yourself a break from the chaos for an hour, you will be bringing your family together in an intimate way to share in your efforts for the planet....
And there are benefits that are larger than ourselves. According to the World Wildlife Fund, when 57% of Sydney residents participated in Earth Hour last year, the amount of carbon emissions in the city dropped by 10.2%. This year, 25 official cities and countless other cities, towns, and individuals participated, with the goal of reducing carbon emissions by at least 5%. In Brisbane, for example, that was five million tonnes of carbon emissions in just one hour.
But it’s the long-term solutions that make the biggest difference. With awareness, comes continuous, long-lasting behavioral change. Many Earth Hour participants will now think twice before leaving a light on in an unused room, will replace their lamps with low-energy CFLs, and will begin to think about other actions they can take to help our planet.
Together, our efforts can make a difference. As we spread the word, more people will learn of our efforts and join us. Together we can raise awareness that individual actions do make a difference.
Rules.
1. Just one hour in the evening, once a week, turn off your lights. That’s it. I recommend being consistent: pick one day a week that works for your family and stick to it. Matt and I are doing Fridays from 8-9pm - if that works for you, join us at that time!
2. Make sure to leave a comment here saying you’re participating. There’s also a little doo-dad below you can plop into your sidebar.
3. Feel free to let us all know if you post about your experiences with your Hour For The Planet. Just leave a comment with a link to your post!
4. I’ll post about the Challenge and what you all are up to occasionally, and I’ll post a final recap on May 31st.
Doo-dad.
To add the button to your site:
Right click the image above, and save to your desktop. Add the image to your blog, as you would any other image. Then add a link to the image. That link should be:
http://web.mac.com/elementsintime/creatinglandscape/Hour4ThePlanet.html
(Sorry I can’t host the button, but The Growing Challenge button has skyrocketed by bandwidth usage and there isn’t enough room for another one!)
Will you join us in giving the earth one hour a week?
