Sunday, March 30, 2008

Doing The Hour

We did the Earth Hour last night. At 7:55, I started shutting down, and dutifully notified everyone that it was the official 5 Minute Warning, then I flipped the switch. There was no power to be had.

I must say, it was very enjoyable. Candles were lit, adding a nice ambiance, although that part was a little lost on Larry, but whever. I enjoyed it. I think Steph enjoyed it too. We had a wonderful meal and dessert, and enjoyed each other's company for 1-1/2 hours! It was nice to have some family time and some good conversation. We also noticed a number of houses lit by the glow of candles, or were dark, so they were presumably participating.

And apparently, Canada proved itself to be the world leader in the Earth Hour... and on a hockey night too (it probably helped that the Leafs sucked so bad!) You can read more here.

Why bother? Here are my reasons:

Make our opinions known - speak out. If we speak out by participating in this small gesture, the more the politicians might notice, and actually do something. The decision makers will know how many of us care, by knowing how many of us registered to participate. These numbers are backed up by the drop in hydro usage. It is a statement of "show me the money", and we did. So now we can say, we are ready to do something, what are you going to do about it.

I believe that we have become energy addicts. We drive everywhere, flip on lights, turn on TVs and computers without thinking, and then just walk away. There is no such thing as darkness anymore. Everything glows. Even our power bars glow, and this just eats away at our precious resources. So we can start breaking these habits, and that starts at home. Who knows where it can go from there.

This video explains why I think we need to do something... to make that statement. It explains why I think we need to make a difference in our world. Consider making the Earth Hour part of the everyday changes of your own lives.

Contributed by Jamie Naessens

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