Earth Hour

So am I the only one who is not on the bandwagon for Earth Hour? In my mind, I do Earth Hour every day. I do not turn on lights that I don't need, as soon as the sun is up the night lights for the kids and blind puppy get turned off (well pup is not totally blind yet but almost, she can see a bit as long as there is a light source), the kids are already well trained to turn their bedroom lights off whenever they leave the room, and the bathroom light as well. If I have to whizzle in the middle of the night, I don't even bother turning a light on, I just stumble and trip over kids' toys to get there. We don't have an air conditioner so in summer we open the windows and run fans only in rooms we are actually IN. In winter we turn the heat down in the day, and again when we go to bed. It's partially for saving money and partially for just not being wasteful. We recycle everything we can think of (I should really take a pic of my basement to show the crap we have piled up down there to take to the various bin drop offs), we turn the taps off when brushing our teeth, we slowed the flow in the toilet so a giant torrent of water doesn't flow every time someone just has a little piddle, we time our garden watering so no one forgets that the backyard is getting soaked to death, etc etc etc blah blah blah.

So why the big hype about Earth Hour. Do we really need a billion homes across the planet to turn their lights out for one hour just to make a 'statement'? I make my statement every day and probably use less power than half the people signing up for this thing. There is a contest at the WWF Canada website (link in first paragraph) to win a trip to see polar bears in Manitoba, just for 'signing up'. How about a prize for those who do this all year? All the time?

Then there is the little tidbit about people having Earth Hour parties, filling their homes with candles, snacks, drinks, and inviting their friends over. Everything they are wearing, eating, burning, etc was made using electricity (not to mention that ghastly petroleum). So how exactly does that support the environment? Maybe some are using recycled paper cups? Maybe some will take their wine bottles back to the Depot? The point is - what... ? What is the point? Is it like a giant parade to show that we care about the earth? We should be proving that each and every day by being more conscious about what we are using and how we are using it. Turning the lights out at my daughter's bed time and freaking the crap out of her (she HATES the dark and would probably wet the bed in fear) is not worth participating in Earth Hour to me. Watching my 1 year old trying to manouver around in candle light (or no light) is not on my list of 'things to do' that day.

Will my neighbours look out and see my lit-up house and think I hate the earth because it's not all in shadows between 830 and 930pm? Will they assume I am just 'one of those people' who doesn't give a shit? Maybe I should give all the ones I see with their Lights Out a tour of my basement on Sunday. It just seems like a silly game to me, another excuse for a party for some, and a statement about Saving The Planet that would be better off exercised every single day.