Can you turn off your lights for one hour?

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, people from around the world will join together for Earth Hour 2008 and turn off their lights from 8 to 9 p.m. to reduce greenhouse gases and raise awareness about global warming.

Last year Earth Hour 2007 was a Sydney, Australia event where 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour. This year it's getting worldwide attention and millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities,
including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tel
Aviv, will unite and turn off their lights for Earth Hour.

If your children are still up at 8 p.m., you can make Earth Hour into a fun family event.

• Light some candles (out of reach of the kids)
• Have a "camp out" in your living room
• Play a game like Hide and Go Seek
• Talk about your day
• Talk with your children about why you are turning off your lights for an hour
• Try to do their normal bedtime routine in the dark or by candlelight
• Go outside and look at the stars
• Just enjoy the time together

And if your kids are NOT still up at 8 p.m., then by all means, enjoy a nice, quiet candle-lit evening with your significant other.

Will you pledge to turn off your lights for just one hour? Sign up for Earth Hour and then tell a friend or two. Together, our small actions can make a big difference.

Earth Hour doesn't have to end at 9 p.m. on Saturday, you can incorporate it into your everyday life by doing little things like:

• turn off lights when you leave a room;
• switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs;
• turn off appliances when not in use;
• unplug things like cell phone chargers, the toaster, microwave and TV when they aren't in use;
• use less hot water.

Every little bit helps to reduce global warming. Hope you'll join in on Saturday and turn 'em off.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Green Living.