Earth Hour 2011

It's that time of year again, time to turn off the electricity for 60 minutes and celebrate Earth Hour. At 8:30 p.m. this evening, in whatever time zone you find yourself, switch off your lights and whatever other electrical equipment that you can. 

It's the fifth consecutive year of this event.  Last year, over 1 billion people around the world participated, making it the largest single action by people in history.  Over 4000 cities and towns participated, in 128 countries.

In Ontario last year, the demand for electricity dropped by four percent during Earth Hour.  That's less than previous years, but it's still a positive result.  Isn't it amazing what we can accomplish when we are all working together?  Now if only we could get Canada's politicians to do the same, turn off the noise and rhetoric and work together, instead of sending us to the polls for the 4th time in 7 years.  The average cost of a national election is somewhere between 13 and 20 million dollars.  Can you imagine the good that could be done with that taxpayers' money if we weren't wasting it on speeches, campaign ads, billboards and those stupid freaking lawn signs that clutter up the landscape and drive...me...bonkers!! 

But I digress.  Here's a picture of the Toronto skyline from 2008 - top photo during Earth Hour, bottom photo from the night before.  Clearly, there is a difference being made.  This year, the focus is on carrying our actions beyond this one hour of time.  What can we all do going forward to make a difference on a regular basis? Definitely something to consider.

Photo copied from treehugger.com.

On a more serious note, I'm sure the thoughts of many people taking part in the observance of Earth Hour this year will turn to the ongoing crisis in Japan. As we voluntarily choose to turn off our power sources here at home, they are still facing the serious threat of nuclear meltdown. The repercussions of that scenario will be huge, a lot more frightening and way beyond the little bit of inconvenience we might encounter in a short sixty minutes of subdued lighting.  It's a sobering thought, especially for those of us who live in communities that also use nuclear power.  I for one would be willing to give up a lot more than sixty minutes of bright light to make all of us safe from that threat.