Earth Hour: March 29 from 8-9pm
I found this snippet on one of my Flickr groups (props to mister wombat) and since I’m a hippie at heart I figured I’d share. You know. Because if you don’t comply, I’ll be silently judging you. Not that I don’t already.
Atlanta is one of more than 20 cities participating in a worldwide turn-off-the-lights event called Earth Hour.
“Black is beautiful” is a phrase from the 1960s that reflected ethnic pride. More than 40 years later, “black is beautiful” is about to be a part of a movement for environmental responsibility — a movement that includes Atlanta.
Atlanta’s nighttime skyline is a beautiful sight; the lights sparkling in the glass of the tall buildings. To some a monumental waste.
“Turn the lights off,” said Darron Collins of the World Wildlife Fund.
Turn the lights off. That’s what the organizers of Earth Hour want everyone to do — on March 29, between 8 and 9 p.m.
“Earth Hour is a way to bring focus and attention to how we might save energy,” said Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. “It gives us an opportunity to participate in a worldwide event to highlight the necessity of all of us to save energy.”
The city of Atlanta is an official Earth Hour participant.
“Through this cooperation we can demonstrate that there are ways to cut our energy use,” said Franklin. “And that this is one way to bring attention to the issue, and we’re hoping in Atlanta that people will begin to think about the amount of energy that they use.”
In Atlanta, lights for health and public safety will remain on.
Atlanta is representing the Eastern US time zone in the event. It is one of 20 cities worldwide participating — including Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Copenhagen, Sydney, Australia and Bangkok, Thailand. Governments and businesses will be participating in Earth Hour in Atlanta on March 29.
(as seen on 11alive.com)
So what do you think? Gonna do it?
I will assume silence is indicative of full support by those too annoyed by the new “log in to comment” feature to respond.
For more info, visit the Earth Hour site.
ugh….i personally am so tired of "awareness" stunts. i really don’t think we need any awareness.
as a cost-conscious person, i will be observing "earth hour" in the sense that i rarely have my lights on anyway.
i take marta to work, wear sweaters around the house when it’s cold to keep my thermostat below 70, etc., etc.
Interesting perspective.
I gotta say, though, I do find it a *smidge* ironic that someone who spends so much time patting themselves on the back for their environmental (or cost cutting) initiatives in public forum would find fault with another persons attempt to spread awareness.
No?
Pot, kettle, black?
Sure, I’m in. The moon will be half-full (or half-empty, depending on how you feel about that damn stupid glass). Any thoughts on where would be a good spot to catch the darkened skyline against whatever light is available?
I just saw a billboard about this yesterday and thought about posting here. Good on ya, Maigh. I’ll be participating.
I’m in, my darling husband already put it on our calendars – to turn of the lights and the computers and everything.
I don’t really see what’s wrong with a little more awareness either. I think we do need it. Clearly, to each his/her own – but if you really do care about the earth – why would awareness campaigns aka "stunts" be annoying?
Can I skip since I had about 96 consecutive hours without power from the c-twon tornado?
I’m glad to see that our mayor acknowledges that this event is to raise awareness and get people thinking. When I first read about San Francisco doing it, they were actually promoting it and saying that one hour would significantly reduce the pollution. As an Electrical Engineer I had to shake my head in shame. It may save you money to turn off your lights, but the power company can’t really roll back until they know for sure that the demand has gone down- they still have to provide the same amount, even if you don’t use it, because if they roll back and people demand more than they’re providing, the system can’t take it and everyone will be without power for a while whether they care about the environment or not.
Anyway, glad to see they’re not trying to convince people that this hour will actually accomplish something other than "awareness". But it would take a long-term change in people’s habits before the power companies can do anything.
hmmmm, whatever.
it’s fine with me, i just wish people would *do* something rather that just ‘raise awareness.’ and i wasn’t finding fault with you for sharing this, but rather bemoaning what seems to be a general attitude of *raising awareness* and the failing to make any substantive changes.
and no, i don’t think it’s a pot calling the kettle anything. what i do, i do every day, day in, day out. i do it for my own reasons and i write about it primarily because i write about what i do.
anyway, sorry if you thought i was taking a shot at you. i was just bemoaning out loud….
jeherv,
Frustration understood. It’s like you’re working hard to build an ark that you know that you’ll need, and someone else (who also knows it’s needed) is off chatting it up with numbskulls trying to convince them an ark is needed instead of helping you build. Here’s hoping that time spent converting the numbskulls (or raising their "awareness") isn’t wasted.