Friday, March 30, 2012

Earth Hour This Saturday - No Excuses!

The most common excuse I hear for not participating in Earth Hour is, "Well, I would, but I'm not going to be home."  Please.  Being home is a better excuse for not participating, because maybe you need the lights on to do whatever it is you're doing!  Don't tell me you can't turn off all the lights and unplug all non-essentials because you won't be home.  Don't you get it?  You won't be home.  You won't be using any of the electricity in your house (except for the fridge and other large appliances that can't be unplugged easily, yes, I know).

Earth Hour 2012 is this Saturday, March 31
8:30 - 9:30 p.m. your local time

Being away from home during Earth Hour is instead the perfect excuse to reduce your electricity usage for even longer than one hour.  Here's what you do; it's very simple.  Before you leave the house, unplug your TV, DVD player, cable box, gaming system, whatever.  Unplug your computer.  Or, flip the switch on the power strip supplying current to all of these things.

Unplug your microwave, your coffee maker, any other small kitchen appliances that are just sitting there sipping at your electric current while not actually providing you with any food or drink.  Shut off your heater or air conditioner.  It's not August, and it's not January; the climate inside your house will not change dramatically over the course of one night without climate control.

Unplug your clock radios, electric toothbrushes and other small everyday items that, again, you will not be using while you are not at home this evening.  Is there a phone charger plugged into your wall right now?  Is it presently charging a phone?  No, because you're taking your phone with you while you are not at home.  Unplug that charger!  It's doing nothing but sucking energy.

And last, before you finally walk out the door, make sure all your lights are turned off.  Outdoor lights, too, people.  If you're that concerned about darkness-induced robbery, take your heirloom jewelry with you for this one evening.

And then go out, enjoy your time away from home, and still participate in Earth Hour!  Maybe you'll even be lucky enough to visit a participating restaurant downtown, where you'll dine by candlelight as you watch the skyline go dark for an hour.  You don't get that experience every Saturday night.

And so you have to reset a few clocks when you return.  Big deal.  Cry me a river.  Just do it in the dark.

How It All Began
Earth Hour History
Our Earth Hour 2010
... And the 2010 global report

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