For Earth Hour, many famous “icons of civilization” went dark on Saturday to show their support for the “worldwide campaign to highlight the waste of electricity and the threat of climate change.” This is such a cool idea and I wonder how this tradition started and when it started. It is an interesting way of green thinking because we can save so much money by using our energy wisely. By just turning our lights off for an hour we can do so much. Even google’s website is showing their support by having their entire page be dark. After doing some research, I found that Earth Hour was first held last year on March 31 (2007) in
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Earth Hour!!!
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I remember first hearing about this event through a facebook group and thinking that it was a really great idea. I was glad to read this article and find out that this year’s “Earth Hour” was a success as planned. I think that the10.2 percent reduction in carbon emissions is incredibly impressive and even inspiring. I feel that the science comm. aspect of this piece was very good, by using the statistics of last year’s “earth hour” it proved to readers that we can make a HUGE difference with A VERY LITTLE amount of effort. If we can get a 10.2% reduction in carbon emission from just one hour of no lights by a very small percentage of the world’s population, just think what we can do if we can get a few more people to turn off their lights for just a few more minutes next time and work our way up to truly planet saving practices and living. This article was great way to get people to see that they can make a difference and that it’s not necessarily hard to do so. The only thing I saw lacking form this article was perhaps the encouragement to include practices like turning off lights and computers into everyday routines rather than just on a special designated day once a year.
From an environmentalist's perspective, I really like this "Earth Hour" concept. I love that I stumbled upon this article very soon after enjoying the Environmental Club's celebration of the event. While playing Capture the Flag on the arts quad, we noticed that almost all the rooms in White Hall were brightly lit (and empty!). We allow needless carbon emission in examples like this one way too often. I'm really glad that some creative mind decided to organize support for this event. I know that the media's coverage of "Earth Hour" will raise awareness on this issue. What a smart way to communicate this unnecessary problem affecting the beauty of Nature!
I realy like the idea of an "Earth Hour" to help show people how conservation can help change our habits and our Earth for the better. It is so amazing how with relatively no effort we are able to conserve so much energy just by being conscious of what we are using and how much to use. By having large commercial icons support the idea of an "Earth Hour" I believe it help spread the news of the event and the importance in getting younger people involved in conservation for the future.
It makes me wonder, why do all these buildings keep the lights on when they are closed or no one is using them? I understand it helps prevent against theft or vandalism, but is it worth wasting all that electricity?
I first saw/heard about the event in an article on cnn.com I really like the idea of this event, and believe that it would generate alot of positive publicity for conservationists. It should be noted that the electricity wasted from leaving lights on uses up a huge amount of energy and I believe that by putting more publicity to this "Earth Hour" event, the public will have a better idea of how much of a difference it really makes to use better practices of living, to help the planet.
This event was great for the publicitiy that ensued and the impact it had on the environment (and hopefully will continue to have). Although everyone understands the importance of turning off lights, saving water, etc., it's hard to get people to modify their behavior. I'm still shocked by the people who haven't changed their lightbulbs over. Hopefully this event will help to raise not only awareness but get people to finally act.
Bill Nye actually talked about how we waste so much energy from things that we don't even use, things such as TVs and computers on standby that take electricity when not in use. I think one of the first steps the world needs to do is get rid of wasteful energy such as that- think of the number of computers used in offices and homes in the US alone, and if used only 40 hours a week but powered on 24 hrs/day, that is an extra 128 hours per week that the computers use energy for no reason, just to save a few minutes to power on in the morning.
When I was 9 I went to the house my mom grew up in India. Twice a week the electricity in the town would be shut down for an hour. I am unsure if they did it for environmental reasons or for monetary reasons, but it was one of the most memorable parts of my trip.
I did not think that this "Earth Hour" thing seemed to be very effective because it is only done for one hour once a year and it is done on a weekend. I think that it's great that it "raised awareness" but if people are not going to change the way they behave then it is a waste of time.
Like many of you who have already posted, I definitely agree that the concept behind earth hour is a great idea that has not yet come close to reaching its full potential. I am definitely impressed with the success that it met--a 10.2 reduction of carbon emission is definitely impressive, however I still believe that there is a lot more potential behind this idea that has yet to be reached.
To begin with, the publicity for it was far too weak in my opinion. Personally, I did not find out about earth hour until the day afterwards. For an event like this to really take off, the communication channels need to be greatly enhanced so that a wider audience can be reached. Everyone needs to know about this beforehand so that they can actually particpate instead of just reading about it after the fact!!
Also as mentioned, earth hour was only one day out of the whole year! Why not make an entire earth month? Or if it is only one day, why not make it longer than it hour? Also, if people are just sitting around their houses it is difficult to not use electricity. An interesting idea then, might be to hold local parades or events to encourage people to get out of their homes where they will not be tempted to use electricity!
Another possibility could be to incoroporate the program into schools by conducting an earth hour during the day. Schools etc. could take students outside for that hour and interact with nature, or just conduct a class outside!
I first learned about Earth Hour by watching the news on the day of the event. I would not consider myself an environmentalist, but as i am currently taking NTRES 201- Envioronmental Conservation, i am well aware of what simple ideas, such as turning out the lights when we aren't using them, could do to reduce our Carbon Emissions. I thought it was a great idea and hope to see environmental awareness events occur more often.
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