The Day After Earth Hour

I was happy to see many places last night observing Earth Hour, even if it was just dimming lights in stores. At least something was being done and participation occured. I happened to be at a Montana's restaurant (Newmarket) just before 8pm and asked if they were participating. I was expecting a yes as all staff members were also wearing TapProject.ca shirts, and that is exactly what I heard. They were indeed dimming their lights.

My friend and I then went in to Chapters (like Borders in the US) and I ask a worker as soon as I went in if they were observing Earth Hour. He informed me that we had just missed the message that they were shutting down as many banks of lights as they could. I can understand in a business where being able to see the books is going to be the only way to sell the product, I was happy to hear/see they were at least reducing energy consumption.

A drive along Yonge St. at 8:40pm showed that the mall had turned off all parking lot lights, most of the store front signs and thier scrolling displays boards were off. McDonald's had dimmed their lights, turned off their "Golden Arches" and all exterior lights. Jack Astor's restaurant was in complete darkness, you could see they were using little or no lighting onon all exterior signs and inside it appeared to be candle lit - an impressive job. Walmart did not appear to be dimmed from outside, but I do know during energy crunches in the summer that they always participate, so I expect that they as well turned off many banks. Then my final destination for the evening was the theatre. Yes, I should have stayed home in the dark, but made my plans without thinking. I was surpised when we pulled up to see so many lights on. But once inside they did have the normal lights over the ticket counter and all around the food stand off. They had the displays off going into each theatre and it also appeared that they were not running any of the normal presentations that roll as one is waiting for the show start time.

More impressive was how dark the town was. Most homes seemed to be quite dark with just the odd one having one light turned on. When I called my mother to see if they were abiding by the no lights I was unsurprised to hear the answer. They had for a little while had all the lights out with just a candle going, then drink got split, someone stubbed their foot on a chair, and....well the lights came back on. Again...at least they tried.

I haven't been able to find great results yet of last night's event but I'm sure more and more stats will become available in the next few days.

EARTH HOUR - MARCH 29, 8:00PM (the year - every year from now on)

Google.ca actually made me laugh today. Yes the Canadian Version. Have you seen their homepage today?

By now I hope you and your families, business, organizations have found a way to participate in tonight's global energy saving venture. Everyone around the world has been asked to turn their lights off for one hour. That's it, just your lights. Now imagine everyone in the world doing the same thing, for one hour, at 8:00pm their time. The amount of energy we are all going to be saving will be astounding.

So get out the candles and the boardgames, find someone to snuggle with, tell some stories, have a campfire, go for a walk, have a nap, sing a song. All it takes is one hour of your time to help save a little energy, the environment, our world.

I'm bringing Earth Hour and Pangea Day to my work

I spoke to our Corporate Communications department today about the upcoming Earth Hour (March 29) and Pangea Day (May 10). My colleagues there we excited to hear about the events and also thrilled to think about how our organization could participate as part of the global community.

These two events will be a great way for our hospital and other organizations to show to our local communities that we too care greatly about this world. With a younger and younger work force more in tuned to the environment and events globally surrounding us, it will also be a wonderful way to connect particularly with these staff. I'm excited that they immediately embraced the idea.

It will be challenging to participate as I did mention we are a health care facility, but we have decided we will find a method to at least dim as many lights as possible on March 29. Pangea Day we are hoping to host in our Lecture Hall on site. Potentially 200 community members could come together on our site to watch the days events.

Have you or your organization decided to participate in these events? Did you know Canada is currently leading the way with number of participants registered?

"Last year, WWF’s Earth Hour made its debut in Sydney and it was a huge success. More than 2 million individuals and businesses participated resulting in a 10 per cent reduction on the electrical grid, saving 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide." - http://www.wwf.ca/

Earth Hour


Pangea Day

EARTH HOUR 2008 - Help make a difference

Many North Americans remember the blackout we had in 2003. If you are like my family, we actually had fun when it happened. We actually got together as a family. We sat around and talked, played games, and went outside to enjoy the day. The blackout lasted in our area for most of the day and by the end of it we had out our camping equipment and were cooking up what food we could so it wouldn't spoil. (Please look at the link above to read about the chaos it created too.)

The reason I bring this up though it on March 29, 2008 over 20 major cities in countries all around the world are turning off thier lights for 1 hour. It began in Austrailia last year and the cause has swept around the world this year. Can you imagine how much energy 1 city the size of New York, Sydney or Toronto could save just by turning thier lights off for one hour? It's staggering. Unlike the blackout no one suggests turning off everything especially emergency services. But how many times have you driven into a city at night and wondered why are all the lights on in the office buildings. We all know they've gone home.


"There are two key objectives for Earth Hour. The first is to engage as many households, communities and business to turn their lights for one hour on March 29.By creating awareness and securing engagement of the broader community, the second objective is to measure the change in our greenhouse gas emissions over the following 12 months – aiming for a reduction in the year following Earth Hour."

The Corporate Communication package from the Earth Hour 2008 web site has a great FAQ to read through.

So, get your family together, let your community know, spread the word. For one hour turn off every thing you can, get out the board games, light a few candles, have some fun, reconnect with your family....and best of all......HELP OUR EARTH.