Last night, our lights, television and computers were turned off for Earth Hour.We chose to go for a walk to our local oval, mini telescope in hand, and lie down on the grass and watch the stars. It was quite magic.
On our way to and from the oval, we walked past many houses with their lights still blazing. My partner's eleven year old son summed it up with "I reckon about 80% just don't care". Unfortunately, I think he was right.
While some people in our neighbourhood, like the lovely peeps next door, had their lights off, about 4 houses in 5 still had their lights on. Some people are elderly and I can understand why they wouldn't turn out their lights - falling hazards and all that. But some appeared to have all guns blazing, almost as a defiant gesture. What will it take for them to learn?
We thoroughly enjoyed our Earth Hour, with the trip to the oval to watch the stars being something we want to do again.
How did you spend your Earth Hour? What was it like where you live?
love and light
naturewitch
14 comments:
Thats sad areound 80% didn't care. Hopefully we see more and more lights going off each year. We went camping - so no lights to turn off - but i made sure i turned everything off at the wall (except the fridge) before we left.
Cheers,
Tricia
What a disheartening thing for an 11 year old to realize. We had a fabulous time roasting marshmallows and playing games by candlelight. :)
We turned off the lights, computers and TV and played a board game by candle light, it was so relaxing without all the lights blazing, this year the hubby was a bit keener about turning off the TV and computers so he will be even better next year.
Tracie xx
Hi Naturewitch,
I spent the night in the company of a wonderful group of people who provided heaps of good conversation, many laughs and a fun time was had by all. We didn't go light spotting so I have no idea what the others in the area were doing.
It is sad that people won't even attempt such a small commitment but to me doing it because we want to not because we have to is what living deliberately is all about.
Kind Regards
Belinda
Hi Tricia
Going camping sounds like a great way to celebrate Earth Hour. It's when you are in the middle of nature that you notice the size of your everyday footprint the most, I think. It was a sad realisation, but hopefully it will be better next year. xx
Hi Joy
Toasting marshmallows sounds like fun! We did have a lovely night, but it broke my heart to hear those words uttered from a child. The only consolation is that the next generation will be more aware. Let's just hope they've something left to be aware about. xx
Hi Tracie
A board game by candlelight - woo hoo! I can just imagine someone getting peeved in Monopoly and burning the money LOL. Glad you had an enjoyable evening and that hubby is coming on board. xx
Hi Belinda
What a great way to celebrate! We didn't intentionally go light spotting; our destination was the local oval because we wanted to lie back on the ground and watch the stars. We figured that it might be far enough away from street lights and wanted somewhere within walking distance.
So, the light spotting thing was a bit of an accident really. Mind you, part of me wanted to start knocking on doors reminding people about Earth Hour. But it was on the front cover of our local free newspaper delivered just a couple of days before, so we figured they knew.
We choose to live deliberately to soften our footprint. Maybe these people will wake up one day? xx
We too joined in the eart hour and throughly enjoyed it, sitting wiht candles lit and just chatting away!!!
At my Weds. garden gathering I announced to the 25 people there about Earth Hour, only one had ever heard of it! This group of people do not watch much t.v. and spend most of their time outdoors so I believe there is a % that just don't know about these things. We spent the time under the redwoods with candles, great friends, a bottle of organic wine and a lot of laughing as old stories were told.~Jacque
We didn't participate in Earth Hour because it fell at an inconvenient time for us (already had other plans that involved tv use). I appreciate the concept as a whole, but realize that it's not a "one size fits all" kind of thing as far as date and time that is selected. We keep our usage far below what others around us do on a regular basis though. We can't really see any of our neighbors, with the exception of a few outside lights here and there, but I'm sure they were blazing as always. Those living around us don't recycle, throw out perfectly good things in their trash piles, have outdoor lights on during daylight hours, etc. So sad.
It sounds like your hour was delightful.
I sat in a circle of beautiful women, and we were drawing by candlelight :). My family was at home with grandma, celebrating and playing games by candles...
:)
I wish people would do this all the time.
Hi Libby
Always good to sit and have a chat! I don't think we do that enough these days. xx
Hi Jacque
How sad so many hadn't even heard of it! We had it on the front page of our local free newspaper, so everyone should have known. And there were posters on the buses and in workplaces, etc, etc. Sounds like you and your friends had a delicious Earth Hour! xx
Hi flmom
I hear what you're saying. And probably the people who most participate are the ones who need to the least. xx
Hi goddess
How lovely! I agree with you - we should do this all the time. I was thinking of doing Earth Hour once a month. Maybe to coincide with the full moon? xx
I've never understood why people feel it necessary to have every room in the house lit. I grew up turning off the light every time I left the room, I still do this now, my kids learned the same. I didn't participate in earth houras I only have one light on anyway at that time of night, the one over the dining table where I'm sitting reading blogs or answering emails, the tv is on in the corner, then at 9-9:30pm we're in bed and the unit is dark anyway, so I think that's fair enough.
we switched everything off and went for a walk to see how many public buildings were in darkness. it was good to see our city with no floodlights, but sad to see how many other lights were still on, even in public buildings.
Hi River
I agree with you - how hard is it to turn the light off when you leave the room? I remember my Dad going around turning off lights and now I do the same, although lights mostly only get left on now when people forget or get distracted. xx
Hi Craft Green Poet
A walk around when there's not so many lights is quite a lovely thing to do. At least the floodlights were off, even if some lighths were still on unnecessarily. xx
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