In a “grass is always greener” sort of way, I’ve always loved power outages. I remember playing board games with my sisters by candlelight and scaring each other over Bloody Mary when we had to use the bathroom in the dark; later during the epic Northeast Blackout of 2003 as a free teenager, shrieking and skipping through Ottawa’s downtown collecting ice cream and warming beer where store owners were defrosting.
(My Internet going down when I’m torrenting the new episode of Californication, however, is another story)
Earth Hour 2012 happened at 8:30pm on March 31. Across the globe it was “lights out!” for every willing participant (who, let’s be honest, cruised Facebook on their iPhones instead for an hour). But jokes aside, Earth Hour is a movement that nicely reflects a collective effort in the form of tradition by we earthlings to combat a very serious cause.
Earth Hour has been happening annually since 2004, an idea sprung by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to encourage both home and industry locations to reduce use and power to raise awareness about climate change. This year, over 6,494 towns across the globe joined together and by the time the event reached south-east Asia, ‘Happy Earth Hour’ became the #1 worldwide trend on Twitter. London, true to funtown form, celebrated with a human powered dance floor that lit up the UK’s flagship Earth Hour event at Somerset House. (EarthHour.org)
“Let us stand together to make of our world a sustainable source for our future as humanity on this planet” #NelsonMandela #EarthHour” –Nelson Mandela tweeting his Earth Hour Support.
Official Earth Hour 2012 video
CLIMATE CHANGE
Al Gore‘s movie An Inconvenient Truth did much to bring the topic of climate change to the attention of the mainstream. By 2012, we have all by now been inundated with startling data on global warming and heartbreaking photos of stranded polar bears on receding blocks of ice. We don’t have to again break down the what’s and why’s of climate change—instead let’s focus on how to slow and stop these detrimental changes from happening.
Simply put, our raucous overconsumption of food, material goods, fossil fuels, and non-renewable resources is putting a huge toll on the planet, exceeding its capacity to sustain us. Agriculture (especially the factory farm production of meats) is the second largest producer of greenhouse gas emission after fossil fuels—a fact that really ups the real price of that 69 cent cheeseburger.
Promoting and practicing responsible consumption in these arenas can be as easy as making smarter food choices or leaving the car at home (& influencing others to do the same!)
PLAN B 3.0
Matt Damon is one of a green girl’s favourite celebs. The actor has been behind many an eco campaign including narrating the climate change documentary Plan B 3.0, adapted from the book by American environmental analyst and founder of the Earth Policy Institute, Lester Brown.
There’s no “Plan B” for us after Earth, though. So let’s celebrate Earth Hour every hour, every day.
