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Like it or not, Earth Hour has come (and gone)! And we're curious as to whether you participated. Officially, all you had to do was turn off all your lights, though you were welcome to have gone all-out and turned off everything that consumed electricity, like your computer (though at least according to our stats, not too many people went that far). And if you're kicking yourself for missing it, hey, there's always 8 p.m. on March 29, 2009. Or basically any other time you want.
Photo of this year's Earth Hour by news46 from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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I went all out: unplugged everything except the fridge and went down to watch the disembodied head of Nelly Furtado.
Am I alone in thinking it's ridiculous that the Weather Network had a live 2-hour special on Earth Hour?
My boyfriend, my friend and I ate pizza in candlelight, but we had already started watching a hockey game before we remembered it was Earth Hour, so we kept the TV on.
We had a pretty good view of the city from my balcony, and it looks like most people didn't participate. The lights were as bright as any other night. The CIBC building turned off its signs but the lights on most floors stayed on. What's up with that?
Did anyone here about the concert in Tel Aviv that was powered by bicyclists? How cool is that?
From the Star:
"Dozens of mostly young and very enthusiastic volunteers took turns pumping their leg muscles here last night, generating about 2.5 kilowatts worth of electrical power, as Israel's largest city, along with Jaffa, its southern neighbour, turned off the lights for 60 minutes in celebration of Earth Hour.
The hard-working pedal pushers were helping to power an open-air concert by Israeli rock group Kneisiat Hasechel, who performed before tens of thousands of fans jammed into Tel Aviv's Rabin Square.
The rest of the roughly 50 kilowatts needed for the concert was supplied by generators burning used falafel oil for power."
Here, hear. Oh well.
i think i'm a pretty good example of why this night was a good thing. on a regular basis, i wasn't being as good about turning lights/appliances off as i should be. after the hour was over, we were a lot more careful than usual, and we'll try to continue to do this. it was just a nice reminder.
I wonder how much CO2 was spewed into the atmosphere from the helicopters buzzing around Nathan Philips...
Reading the wall-to-wall, ever-more-dubiously-linked Earth Hour coverage in the Star yesterday, I wondered how much power I'd save if I cancelled my subscription, and how the callcentre drone would react to that reason for cancellation.
I am conflicted because while I like the idea in some respects, I know that most people will go back to business as usual and it stinks of Stuff White People Like #18 - "Awareness".
What's the IESO/Toronto Hydro number going to be next weekend, adjusted for the longer evening? Will we all be watching Coach's Corner (as approved by David Suzuki) by candle light again?
I know that the big boosters of the event like the Star and Pulse24 would declare the event a success if even one watt was saved - while a figure of between 5-8% was deemed reduced, I'm not sure what the actual target was.
we are usually really frugal with energy last night seemed like it wa a nice reminder but looking out my windows I think we were the only ones in the neighbourhood with the lights off
I was already planning to be out of the house during Earth Hour, so all the lights were off at my place anyways. On the bus ride down to my previously-scheduled dinner, I didn't see a lot of lights turned off that I didn't already expect to be turned off in the first place BUT I did hear a lot of my fellow busriders talking about people who'd left their lights on, which I guess is one small measure of success.
For me, Earth Hour wasn't really about the negligible amount of decreased power usage in sixty measly minutes; it was more about getting a lot of people to think about the issue. Shutting off your lights for an hour won't halt climate change, but if it gets people thinking about what measures COULD halt climate change, it's one small start.
On the shore of Lake Ontario, by the Humber River, we had a great vantage point to look over the Toronto skyline. It felt great to see some of the major city lights go down, but our mood dampened when we turned around and saw how many people in neighbourhood were still aglow. Suddenly a group of small children somewhere nearby started enthusiastically screaming, "It's Earth Hour!" over and over. My guess is that they were trying to get some of these residents to turn out their lights, lol.
Futile (as some may say the whole event was) but I liked it. Energy awareness + enthusiasm is the starting point to change, right?