My Green Life

It might be one small step for man, but at least it’s a step. Flipping the switch to shut off lights for just one hour out of the year probably won’t end the threat of global warming or the impending oil crisis, but isn’t it important to take some action? After all, it’s focusing on the little things that make a relationship successful, so shouldn’t it be the same with our planet?

There are plenty of skeptics out there that openly share their opinions about the drawbacks and failures of Earth Hour, an event started in Sydney, Australia last year to encourage people to turn off their lights for just one hour. The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge flicked the switch with 2.2 million residents and 2,100 other businesses. Critics argue about the impact of this event, but does it really matter whether electricity consumption during that hour was 10.2% or 2.10% lower than the average usage? Nevertheless, the result was equivalent of taking 48,613 cars off the road for one hour, and even though that only represents taking six cars off the street per year, it’s six cars that won’t be there tomorrow.

The point of Earth Hour is to raise the awareness by demonstrating that the little things do add up. The mile that I now walk to work instead of driving my car, is not going to solve global warming or fix all the problems in the world, but that mile represents my commitment to doing the little things. These steps may seem insignificant at the time, but you never know the profound effect it could have in the long run. So, I will be turning my lights off tomorrow in support of Earth Hour. At the moment (with 1 day, 10 hours, 50 minutes to go) 264,822 other people and 19,208 businesses have signed up to participate in turning off their lights. So tomorrow, March 29th at 8 pm, the lights in at least one Portland residence will be dark. To add your name to the list, go to www.earthhour.org/

UPDATE: 3/29 12:12 PM

Even Google is participating in Earth Hour by dimming their home screen. It does not save any energy BUT it works to demonstrate their support and raise awareness among the millions that visit the site daily.  Props to Google! Check it out here