Earth Hour 2011

This past Saturday, March 26th at 8:30pm, was Earth Hour. There are many opinions on whether or not turning lights off for one hour each year actually accomplishes anything, because burning candles still releases carbon dioxide. Regardless of any environmental benefits, I think it is nice to unplug from technology for a while. I set up some candles in the front room, bathroom, home office and kitchen. The boyfriend played some acoustic guitar and friends came over with wine which we drank by candlelight. It was a nice night and we even went beyond the hour because the candles just looked so nice and I was talking and lost track of time anyways.

For me, the experience was nice. It allowed me the time to reflect on how often I use electricity (I almost instinctively flipped the switch on when I went into the bathroom, but caught myself) which in turn allowed me to reflect on the fact that if we don't respect and conserve our resources then they will be gone someday. That felt like a powerful (no pun intended) message to me. Not everyone would agree with me though and when I started surfing the net for nay sayers I came across this quote:

The Ayn Rand Institute wrote, "Participants spend an enjoyable sixty minutes in the dark, safe in the knowledge that the life-saving benefits of industrial civilization are just a light switch away... Forget one measly hour with just the lights off. How about Earth Month... Try spending a month shivering in the dark without heating, electricity, refrigeration; without power plants or generators; without any of the labor-saving, and therefore life-saving products that industrial energy makes possible."

Geez. Whoever wrote that sounds like if they ever had to experience a power outage for more than an hour then they would just lay down and die. It is opinions like the above quote that make me want to move farther and farther away from the grid. Forget about Earth Month... I want to try Earth Year... or even Earth Decade... or even Earth Lifetime. But it is a process and it does start with the little things... like Earth Hour. Also, the ignorance in that quote just amazes me. As if before industrial energy everyone sat shivering in the dark eating spoiled food. There are other ways to live and renewable energies are a very viable alternate way of life.

At this point I'd like to refer to two people, Vanessa Farquharson and Les Stroud. In Sleeping Naked is Green ,Vanessa proves that it's not so hard to live without a refrigerator. By purchasing meat on the day you want to eat it and eating fruits/veggies within their natural shelf life it can be done. Les Stroud filmed his year spent in the wilderness with his wife in his documentary titled, Snowshoes and Solitude. They built their own log cabin and used a wood burning stove to keep warm. Everything was done by hand, definitely without electricity. Les Stroud would never be caught shivering in the dark, because he literally knows more ways than I can count to start a fire. If you haven't seen this documentary, check it out! It is very inspiring.

But what does that have to do with Earth Hour? Well, Earth Hour gets us talking, thinking and acting. It reminds us that it's not impossible to live without electricity, but we don't have to if we take responsibility for our energy usage and implement renewable options. I see Earth Hour as more of a symbol or a metaphor that allows us to pause and think about how we use energy. Even people with negative comments did not miss that point, because they still took the time to stop and think about it.