Earth Hour

For this blog I decided to read “An Earth Hour primer,” written by Emily Mathieu. In her article the author writes about “Earth Hour,” which is an event taking place on Saturday, March 30, between 8-9pm. The author writes “On Saturday, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., people around the world will turn off the lights in their homes and businesses to conserve power and draw attention to climate change.” Hundreds of homes and businesses have rallied together to support this cause. The first ever “Earth Hour was held in Sydney March 31, 2007. It obtained huge international attention and has this year, encouraged hundreds of other countries, around the world to join in the environmental awareness movement. It amazes me that just 2 million people and 2,100 businesses, switching their lights off for an hour, could have such a huge impact the world over. Media coverage of this event obviously had a lot to do with the impact that this small and subtle but powerful statement had on the international community. This year, dozens of cities, like Montreal, Manila, Dubai, Tel Aviv, etc have pledged to turn off their lights to raise awareness about climate change and stress the importance of conservation in a world where everything seems to have become disposable. In the Cyberworld, Facebook started a group to publicize this event and thousands of people signed on, pledging their support for this cause. The wall for this event is full of suggestions for things to do in that hour that do not involve the use of electricity. It is very interesting to see that a small scale idea in a country on the other side of the world has had such a huge impact on the global community. So…What will you be doing during “Earth Hour?”