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The worldwide event known as Earth Hour is getting a big push in Chicago this year. As the flagship city for Earth Hour in the U.S., Chicago is joining Atlanta, Phoenix, San Francisco and other cities around the world promoting the March 29 event with a big P.R. campaign and high-profile corporate sponsorship to highlight the problem of (and possible solutions to) global climate change.

When the hour of 8 p.m. local time on Saturday arrives, the plan is that in dozens of cities across six continents, thousands of businesses and millions of individual citizens will be turning off their lights for 60 minutes. Earth Hour was a successful movement last year in Sydney, Australia, with 2.2 million people and over 2,000 businesses hitting the off switch. Even landmarks like the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House went dark for the occasion. The organizers claim that the Earth Hour 2007 event resulted in a 10.2 percent drop in energy usage, which is the equivalent of taking 48,000 cars off the road for that hour.

Now, I’ll admit that at first the idea of fighting global warming by turning off the lights for an hour struck me as kind of stupid. I mean, come on. The problem is so much bigger than that, isn’t it? What good does reducing our power consumption for one hour do when there are 8,759 other hours in a year? And aren’t there much bigger contributors to greenhouse gas emissions than the lights in my living room? (America’s addiction to driving huge SUVs comes immediately to mind.) And maybe most importantly, isn’t it counterproductive to ask people to sit in the dark, deprived of their electronic toys, as a way of pointing out the promise of the bright, new renewable energy future? As a recovering Catholic, this experiment in “doing without” reminded me of giving up something for Lent, which seemed like a downer of an environmental event and not a big draw.

But upon further reflection (and a little bit of research), the idea of Earth Hour has finally won me over. Of course the actual energy savings during an hour without nonessential lights (street lights, hospital lights, and other areas required for public safety will still remain lit) is going to be merely symbolic. With the help of their partners in the event, which include local utilities, the WWF will be measuring how much energy is saved and will report those numbers to indicate how the event reach has grown from the previous year. But the real impact won’t be quite that quantifiable. The most important impact of Earth Hour is that it will get people thinking about ways to make its temporary effects more lasting.

What people do during this self-imposed blackout is up to each individual, but the folks at World Wildlife Fund, the sponsor of the event, have listed some unplugged activities to consider, including giving your home an energy makeover, talking to your kids about going green, and grabbing a flashlight and cleaning up your neighborhood. It’s an effective way to raise people’s consciousness because it asks us to take time out of our regular routine and sit quietly, with minimal distractions, and think about how we might be able to reduce our carbon footprints. The fact that millions of other people are doing the same thing at the same time is actually pretty cool. It speaks to our need to connect with other people to solve this huge problem we all share. 

Beyond the earnest feelings of common purpose and humanity united across the planet, Earth Hour is a potent symbol because it allows us to literally see things differently for a short time. Signature skyscrapers, such as the Hancock Tower, and key landmarks like the Navy Pier Ferris wheel and Buckingham Fountain, will go dark. Theater marquees and shops on the Magnificent Mile will voluntarily turn off their lights. The city will look and feel different during this hour of temporary gloom, and it may be more fun to go out than to stay in.

At the risk of sounding like a civic booster or a crunchy environut with my head in the clouds, I’m on board with Earth Hour. With its sense of community and tangible alteration of the human environment, I think Earth Hour, like Earth Day, has real potential to catch on and become a recognized tradition and cultural touchstone. I’m looking forward to marking the occasion with a candle-lit dinner with my family, and maybe some bedtime stories with my son read by by flashlight. My wife and I will probably talk about things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint in our daily lives. And I’ll check the news later to see what the skyline looked like with all those lights out. It may just make me appreciate the city in its blazing glory that much more.

One thing I won’t be worried about during those 60 dark minutes: the rumored danger of a disruption due to flux in demand in the power grid. The Earth Hour website indicates that WWF is “working closely with the energy providers in each city to ensure a safe event with no adverse impact on power systems.” I highly doubt that the Illinois power utility ComEd would sign on as a major partner for this event if it couldn’t effectively handle the risk of power surges affecting its customer base. The company has dealt with enough bad press with regard to inability to meet peak summer electricity demand that it would not risk another controversy.

To register as a particpant in Earth Hour, click here. 

Photo credit: Chicagoist