Earth Hour

Saturday was Earth Hour. Hopefully most of you were at least aware of this event, whether or not you were able to participate. The idea was that between 8pm and 9pm this past Saturday, people around the world turned off their lights. Different events were organized in celebration, like candlelight dinners in restaurants, or evenings outside in the parks. It was all about raising awareness about our carbon footprint on the earth, and doing a little bit more to conserve energy.

James was out of town, but we did our part here. As I put Colin to bed at 8, we talked a little bit about how we can help the earth to feel better. Then, promptly at 8pm, we turned off the light and sang our lullabies in the dark.

After that, I came downstairs, light a beautiful green candle I have that smells of deep forest, and hand cranked my generator radio. For the next hour I nibbled on homemade cookies and listened to the Leaf game in the dim candlelight.

It was amazing to look outside at our street and see nearly all of the houses dark. Even in the apartment building, only three windows were aglow with their overhead lights.

We are by no mean conservation fanatics, but I do try to do the best I can. We have energy saving appliances, we turn the lights off behind us, we walk when we can instead of driving. One goal for me is to get a bike and use it and a backpack for "quick trips" to the store. I am no expert on global warming, climate change, and the like - if the experts can't agree, how am I supposed to figure it all out with my limited knowledge and experience! But I do support the idea of "carbon footprint" - that being the mark I leave on the earth. Whether or not our human lifestyle is destroying the planet (I tend to think yes!), I figure it's always better to keep it as green as we can. We owe a lot to this earth of ours. It's a pretty great and beautiful place to live, and I'd like to keep it that way.