Earth Hour 2009

What a wonderful night last night was!

My observance of Earth Hour actually started at about 9:00 because my mom and I were at an open house to celebrate a family friend's ninetieth birthday (some of the stories told were extremely funny to the point that I was bent double with laughter). When we got home most of the lights had been turned off (thanks, Tom!).

I took some photos for the Earth Hour Global group on Flickr (I cranked the ISO up to 800 and made sure I used a tripod in case of long exposures. I also avoided candles at all costs because that subject had been done about a million times before.) and then I decided to grab my violin and play something in the dark. I started out with some easy pieces and then moved on to more difficult ones like Beethoven's Minuet and Trio in G, and The Two Grenadiers (once I got to the second half of that one I just blazed through it).

Some of these pieces I hadn't played in a while so it was wonderful to dig them out and dust them off. Sometimes I played in total darkness, but when I hit a piece that I had trouble with I turned the stand-light back on again.

We kept our lights off until about ten--half-way through Earth Hour in the Eastern time-zone (I have quite a few friends who live in that time-zone, including two in Toronto, so that was rather cool).

When I write it out here, it doesn't seem like I did much. But it felt like a lot last night.

Earlier I noticed that on the Earth Hour website it seemed as though there were more people who were using the forum to state how they were going to turn everything on in participation of a so-called Human Achievement Hour then there were people who were going to turn everything off. Hmmmmm........ What's wrong with this picture? If all our "achievements" (fossil fuels, clear-cutting, polluting the rivers and streams, etc.) end up destroying our home is it really an achievement? Yes, this species has done some wonderful things (the civil-rights movement, composing beautiful and moving music), but by turning everything on and calling it an "achievement" I think it's celebrating the worst of the species. Okay, I'm done.

I hope everyone--from Canada to Vietnam--had a wonderful Earth Hour.

From CBC.ca: Canadians douse lights to usher in Earth Hour 2009

From CBC.ca: From Antarctica to Pyramids, lights dim for Earth Hour

Here's a video that really tells what Earth Hour about:

Even more articles

From TIME.com: Can Earth Hour Galvanize the Fight Against Global Warming?

From CBC.ca: Sydney first major city to mark Earth Hour 2009

In case you haven't noticed, I'm obsessed big-time!!! Three hours, ten minutes to go!

the list.....

Here's a list of capitols and landmarks that will be participating in Earth Hour.

Happy Earth Hour, Rome and Athens (8:24 PM and 9:24 PM, respectively)! St. Peter's Basilica is one of the places that's set to go dark, along with the Colosseum and the Acropolis (which is almost finished).

Earth Hour, part 2

More stuff. This time, some articles:

From the AP via the COP15 website: Lights out in 84 countries for Earth Hour

From the CBC: Lights out in several countries for Earth Hour 2009

From the CBC: Earth Hour: Making a difference?

From the National Post: Pacific switches off for Earth Hour

From the National Post: What's the point of Earth Hour, anyway?

From the last article:

Should every person feel compelled to take part in this because it's the right thing to do, morally speaking, or because it feels good to make a green statement? [I say: both] Is there a concrete way to measure the effectiveness of Earth Hour? [I say: the numbers of people who sign up to take part, and the effect that it has on COP15--keep your fingers crossed, everyone!] Should it be limited to just lighting, or should we be trying to reduce all forms of energy during this time? [I say: even though WWF just focuses on the "lights-out" aspect, I say YES!!!!] And must those who refuse or are unable to take part be admonished for doing so? [I say: yes for those who refuse, no for those who are unable to join in].

Even though WWF doesn't stress it, I'll be turning off and unplugging my laptop (and anything else that I can get my hands on) during the hour, so no blogging Earth Hour for me.

Take a look at the Earth Hour Flickr group. I'll make sure to take some photos during the hour and upload them afterwards. They also have a photostream showing celebrations worldwide.

Earth Hour really is a beautiful, powerful thing: you get send a message to governments worldwide, and it's like one huge party (especially in cities like Toronto). And this year it's an election with no minimum age.

I still don't get it: why do people insist on clogging up the comments area on the Canadian Earth Hour site with comments saying, "I'm turning every single one of my lights on, I'll have the sound system blasting, the TV on, etc., etc." What do people think they'll accomplish by doing that? And why are they doing it in the first place? Come ON, people--Earth Hour is COOL!!!!!!!!!

Eight and a half hours to go--yaaaaaaaaaay!!!!

Gearing up for Earth Hour (8:30-9:30 PM local time)

Do you really want to harm Her?

Tomorrow night is Earth Hour, and this blog will be going dark--literally (I'll change the template to Minama Dark).

What bugs me is how many people (Republicans? Conservatives?) still--after all this time and with the evidence doing a striptease in front of them--believe that global warming is a hoax (and that scientists back that claim up). It's at times like these that I want to scream so loud that everyone in the world can hear me: global warming is REAL and we need to really step up to the challenge. To those who say that turning off the lights for an hour couldn't possibly help, I say otherwise: I read in WWF-Canada's enewsletter last year that during Earth Hour 2008 Canada's power bill nation-wide was, in fact, reduced by a significant amount (I can't remember the exact figure, but it was a lot).

Also, if enough people participate it sends a very strong message to the government. With the climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December that message is extremely important (as Greenpeace keeps mentioning).

Our mother--our home--needs all the help She can get. Let's help to bring down Her fever.

To those who say otherwise: SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!