Earth Hour: Take Action with the Flick of a Switch : EcoLocalizer

Earth Hour: Take Action with the Flick of a Switch

Written by Becky Striepe

Published on February 18th, 2009

Earth Hour 2009 is coming up at 8:30pm on Saturday, March 28th! What started as a call to action in Sydney, Australia two years ago has grown into a global event.

This year, over 64 countries and territories are participating. With a projected one billion participants in over 1000 cities this year, Earth Hour 2009 is sending a message that people are ready to pull together and fight global warming. According to their website, “Earth Hour aims to demonstrate unprecedented solidarity and provide a visual mandate for action on climate change.”

Check out their moving video promoting this year’s event:

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Something about watching those big landmarks go dark along with residences and businesses really does send a message. Last year, Earth Hour fell on the day that some local friends were planning a birthday party. Rather than reschedule, we decided to just start the party out with everything turned off. We switched off the lights and music in favor of candles and chatting. Everyone sat around and talked and connected in a way that doesn’t happen at your run of the mill party. The hour flew by, and it was even a bit jarring when we turned the lights back up.

Some folks criticize Earth Hour as a futile exercise. They say that we should work to cut back every day. I can see that point. We should be working every day to cut our carbon footprints and treat the Earth with respect. Still, I feel like the folks at that birthday party walked away from an hour in the dark with something to think about - maybe we all even learned a lesson that will help us live more simply the other 8,759 hours of the year.

To get an idea of Earth Hour’s impact in participating cities, take a peek at this panorama of Toronto during Earth Hour 2008 compared to two weeks beforehand (click to see it full-sized):

[Creative Commons photo via Alex Indigo]