Photograph © WWF / Nina Munn

Earth Hour 2012 - How you and your local community can get involved!

by Klaudia Wegschaider

- Do you already know what you are going to be doing on March 31, 2012, between 8:30 and 9:30 pm?
- No.
- Well, here is an idea that you should consider.

A memory.
The power on my entire high school campus is switched off. Lights, computers, televisions are turned off. But the fun is just about to start. Students and staff gather on the sports field for one hour. In those sixty minutes we enjoy dance, poetry, music and other creative performances next to a bonfire. In those sixty minutes we all acknowledge that each of us needs to contribute to a more sustainable worldwide lifestyle. In those sixty minutes the stars shine brighter than ever.

That was my Earth Hour experience last year, 26 March, in my high school. A day that I will remember and a tradition that I want to follow.
Earth Hour is an initiative by World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF, to shut down power for one hour and send a signal that a change in our thinking needs to occur. Every year communities all over the world participate in this event, where for one hour the plugs are pulled out and people gather to entertain themselves in flickering candlelight. This is the biggest mass participation event of all times. In 2011, 1.8 billion people participated and Earth Hour continues to grow. Globally, tourist attractions, sights, statues and other monuments were in the dark. The Vancouver Science World building was among those. (For pictures please visit: http://www.ctv.ca/gallery/html/earth-hour-goes-dark-110327/index_.html)

In 2010, 64.6 megawatt hours of electricity, an amount of energy equivalent to turning off 1.4 million lights, were saved during Earth Hour in British Columbia according to a BC Hydro Press Release. Hopefully, on 31 March 2012 that number can be increased.

This 60 minute initiative allows everyone to get involved in different ways. Participate by switching of your electronic devices during that time, spread the news by updating your facebook or twitter feeds, organize or visit a local Earth Hour event, donate and most importantly, continue your daily life with the awareness that also the decisions you make can contribute to a sustainable use of energy. To find out how you can contribute or where around you events are being hosted, check out http://www.earthhour.org/.

But Earth Hour is about more than just saving electricity for one hour. It is about creating a mindset of individual responsibility and commitment as part of a local and global community. The day after Earth Hour, you will hopefully have at least one goal how you will follow a more sustainable lifestyle in the upcoming year.
 
Here are a few ideas of what we can all do together:

• Buy local vegetables.
• Bike to your workplace.
• Do not leave your electronics on Stand By.
• Read though the Sustainability Television Blogs and share some of your ideas as well!

You have just about 56 days left to organize something fun for this event! Maybe a candle-light dinner at your restaurant, try to get your friends and colleagues to participate, to set up an Earth Hour event at your local school, community, town or else. Or simply invite your friends over and gaze at the stars or tell scary stories for 60 minutes.

When was the last time you saw or tried to count the stars?

I hope to meet some STV members at one of this year's Earth Hour events on March 31, 2012, between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. I will be there for sure. What about you?