Earth Hour 2008

So .... today's the day ...

What are you doing for Earth Hour?

How about following the

Go Green tip of the day
Turn off your lights March 29, from 8 to 9 p.m. Unplug your TV, your computer, your DVD player. Head outside and check out the skyline, by foot - not car.

In Christchurch New Zealand "the combined efforts of residents, businesses and communities to make a stand and reduce energy use had cut consumption for the hour by 12.8 per cent - more than double what had been estimated and the equivalent of the average weekly power consumption of 420 homes."  The Toronto Star  

In some of the articles and blogs I have been reading there are more than a few who espouse the opinion that a single hour won't make a bit of difference - and they are right - if it is ONLY a single hour - it won't.  But I think that most of the people that participate have - by thinking and talking about it and deciding to participate - also given some thought to things they - WE - can do on an ongoing basis.

Which can't hurt, right?

I also think that it is a very important and very visual symbol for the "dim bulbs" in power (Mendolson Joe, Toronto Star, 29 March 2008) that don't seem to ~get~ that fact that people do in fact shive a git.

Here in Canada, our "dim bulbs" signed onto the Kyoto Protocol Agreement with no real intention of following through. They went for the photo ops, apparently - then came home and told us that it would be too hard on the economy to actually DO what they'd just ~committed~ to. I, for one, was IRKED. And so are a whole lot of other Canadians.

So - maybe turning off the lights for an hour will have no real benefit in terms of saving the environment. But it gives that whole lot of Canadians a way to SHOW our dim bulbs that we think that they - and WE - need to do better.

Is that not worth doing?

Are our children and grandchildren not entitled?

One hour is, of course, not enough.

But what the heck is it going to hurt?