Earth Hour, What did you learn?

And more importantly how will you change your behaviour? I mostly read by windup head torch for the hour and did some gardening jobs, some yoga, and tidied up our room. I also took a stroll a few blocks around mainstreet Hamilton Bermuda. There did seem to be quite a lot of lights off but not nearly enough. I appreciate the statement of solidarity with those fighting to deal with climate change but Earth Hour should provoke change. Myself, I intend to be more careful about turning off power strips, and thus all the devices attached to them. I already read by windup headtorch most nights and will continue to. I never use the tumble dryer as we have very high quality solar drying potential here in Bermuda, though I never used it in the UK where we had somewhat lower quality solar resources. So today I hung out my clothes in the warm breeze. Later, I'll be walking the hour or so it takes to get to my friends house for dinner and a film.

But what would it take to go further? I like this idea found on Living the Frugal Life.

"Some of the blogs I read that deal with preparing for life after peak oil, or the next great depression, or political collapse strongly suggest turning off the electricity at the junction box for a weekend or a week, just to see how well you can function without it, and to see in what areas you'd like to be better prepared or equipped. I've never done this. But having just turned off the lights for an hour and a half last night, I can see that some sort of light other than oil lamps would sure be nice, if it came to that. Perhaps solar lanterns, or some hand-cranked battery powered lighting. Reading by oil lamps would probably ruin my eyesight sooner rather than later. It took less than an hour with the lights turned off to learn this."

As we are staying in a guest house I won't be able to do this but it is similar to the Free From Power days I did when we lived in Sheffield. Here's more on those;
2nd FFPD
3rd FFPD

Thanks to Cliffird Wirth over at Surviving Peak Oil for the heads up on that Furgal Living site.

Kids and Earth Hour

As most of you know this Saturday night at 8:30pm is Earth Hour. Many of you may be wondering what to do with your kids with no lights and no TV, no video games, no computers. I ran across this website that has some suggestions. check it out at MooMama

http://moomama96.blogspot.com/2009/03/activities-for-earth-hour.html

Here's an excerpt;

"We have decided to participate in Earth Hour and throw a party at my parents' home this Saturday night! We will be turning off all lights and computers and will shut the thermostat off for the entire night here in my house.

Here are a few fun activities to fill this hour in your home:

* Any celebration is reason to eat cake in our family! My sister, Hannah, has decided to make a Blackout Cake for our Earth Hour party. Check out the recipe for one here.

* If you have a fire pit outside, light a fire and roast some marshmallows. Maybe tell a few good old fashioned ghost stories!

* Play flashlight tag!

* Play hide and seek in the dark! Make sure to give the smaller children an older partner!

* Have your child perform a show! Shine a flashlight on them from the audience and let them pretend they are on stage!

* Two words: Shadow puppets!

* Light candles! Keep them high and away from the children. Use mason jars or other deep glass containers with votives to minimize the risks.

* Be even safer and use these night lights by Oxo to illuminate your hour.

* Set up a tent indoors and camp inside for the night! Break out the glow sticks and read some stories to the kids before bedtime. Some suggestions are The Lorax by Dr. Seuss or The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

* Beyond all else, cherish the quiet, candlelit moments of this hour with your children and loved ones. These are the moments we are trying to protect by voting Earth!"

WWF's Earth Hour 2009

Join the more than 500 cities worldwide and turn off your lights on March 28th for one full hour in a global demand for action on climate change. Governments won't act unless they see consensus in the people.

Earth Hour

“Earth Hour is an opportunity for every man, woman and child from all corners of the globe to come together with a united voice and make a loud and powerful statement on the issue of climate change,”- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“The C40 Climate Leadership Group is about cities working together to drive down greenhouse gas emissions and that is why as Chair of the C40, I support Earth Hour. It's crucial that cities and the public come together to take action against climate change and Earth Hour provides a great platform to do that."- Mr David Miller, Mayor of Toronto and chair of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group