Earth Hour

In a way it's sad that: a) we have to formally designate sixty minutes as "Earth Hour" to get people to truly reflect on their personal impact on the environment; b) it only lasted sixty minutes; and c) for most people it will be the last thought they ever give to the topic. Still, it's a start. If it gets even a few thousand people to be more aware of what we can do to sustain the Earth, then it's worth it.

At our house Earth Hour was a quietly enjoyable experience. No computers, no Nintendo (since even using a fully charged handheld would have eventually required recharging), no TV - just three people entertaining each other. First it was making shadow puppets on the ceiling with the light from the candle (just like my sister and I did when we were kids, with a flashlight, when camping out with sleeping bags in the living room), then talking about organized labor and the episode of This American Life that Julie just heard (she's convinced John Hodgman is the funniest man alive), then exercise time which showed that Maddie and I need a lot of work on our situps. True, there were several moments of blankly looking at each other and saying "What do we do next?" but those would have been all but eliminated with adequate preparation. We're going to try to do Earth Hour every Saturday night at 8, but from now on we'll definitely have to have some activities laid out in advance.

I encourage everyone to try it, at least once.