In 2007, the citizens of Sydney, Australia took a stand against climate change and turned off their lights for one hour as a symbolic gesture of their support of climate change mitigation. The symbolic gesture had a notable bi-product--the hour without lights was equivalent to taking 48,000 cars off the road. Earth Hour was born.
Earth Hour happens again this year--tomorrow night. The movement has gone global and includes cities such as: Toronto, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco are involved. Regardless of where you live, show your solidarity for the fight against climate change and try and use as little as possible electricity tomorrow, March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m.
The incredibly inspiring story of Earth Hour is here:
In the words of the immortal Norman Greenbaum, "Skyline fading away from me. Can't no longer see the skyline.." OK! Lights Out San Francisco wasn't that dramatic and the actual energy reduction figures aren't in yet, but the skyline definitely looked a little darker as I rode back from Marin last night around 8:50pm. The Golden Gate bridge towers were dark. Alcatraz was dark. City Hall was dark. The Bay Bridge was half-lit. My business school classrooms were dark. The Trans-America triangle disappeared into the night sky. People in the Bay Area probably noticed Google's darkening their page for Bay Area residents (like Blackle.com).
A really great before and after photo of San Francisco is here.
Get out your Sharpie and mark it on your calendar. On October 20th from 8pm-9pm, San Francisco will celebrate "Lights Out San Francisco. " Residents will be encouraged to turn off all unnecessary lights and electrical appliances (remember your old foe Lopomo?) for that hour (and hopefully longer) to show support for efficient use of energy.
I participated in a Lights Out night in New York about five years ago, and it was awesome. My neighborhood, Fort Greene, had lots of buy in, and it was fun to see candlelight flickering from apartment windows and people chatting outside on their stoops. The blackout was even better
If you don't live in San Francisco, start a "Lights Out Night" in your town. October 20th seems like a good time--ripe for reading ghost stories by the light of a jack-o-lantern or channeling the ghost of Nikola Tesla.
