Selfsufficientish.com

I thought I'd posted this before but I can't find it (senior moment!!)

It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?
The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - sending a powerful national and global message that it is possible to take action on global warming.

This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for one hour.
With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice.

At 8pm on 29 March 2008, Earth Hour goes global, with cities and towns around the world taking stand on the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, and millions of people uniting to turn the tide on global warming.

more.....

just done it in christchurch here, tonight

We participated!

Nev

We will be turning every thing off tonight - perfect opportunity for a bonfire and BBQ! Earth Hour party!

I'm gonna have a bonfire too!

I just did it!

Slight accident though - managed to burn a hole in the tablecloth with a candle

We almost set fire to the house when D struck a match to light a candle and it broke off and went behind a box in the living room!

It's infuriating. I'd never heard of Earth Hour, so I googled it. Only to find that the number of UK cities and towns signing up for it was (you guessed it) a big fat ZERO.

We had all our lights off becuase we were out, but the kids want to do it tomorrow, and they want all electrics off so we can play a game by candlelight! Our very own earth-hour 24 hours late!!!

It's a fabulous idea though. Why can't we dim the lights every night? Would it really make the streets less safe if, say, one in two streetlights were switched off at midnight? Or the lights on public buildings?

Our commune turns off all the lights at 11.30, though this is because it is broke and trying to save money wherever it can. Our mayor is a useless git and fouled up the finances some years ago. We're going to be paying off the debt until 2013 but he still manages to find €3000 each July 14th for fireworks.

Anyway, we're all now used to it being dark in the middle of the night and I hope the practice will continue even when we can afford the power.

According to wikipedia London and Birmingham are signed up. I ended up not turning the lights back on again once I'd got the candles nicely positioned!

Same here, though we've managed to break one of the lights in the bathroom and can't turn it off, so we didn't technically do Earth Hour, but we did it in spirit!

They seem to be making the statement that the cities are turning off all the "unnecessary lights" for a few hours.
So if they are unnecessary, why not turn them off all the time or just get rid of them?

Enormous Sage wrote:They seem to be making the statement that the cities are turning off all the "unnecessary lights" for a few hours.
So if they are unnecessary, why not turn them off all the time or just get rid of them?

Good point! Also, so many people I have spoken to, had no idea this was happening, and it was something everyone could join in with,. I wish things like this were mentioned in the papers or on the news so people who aren't here could do it as well!

I know what you mean.
I sent an article in to the local paper and they didn't print it - didn't even have the decency to email me back to let me know one way or the other!!