Saturday at 8:30 p.m. was Earth Hour, which I knew nothing about. Thankfully I got on Twitter earlier that day and read something about how cool YouTube’s light switch was that made the background dark. Of course I had to check it out. It turned out to be a nice effect but I was more interested in the reason for the switch and the light bulb at the top of the screen.
I did some reading and watching and found out about Earth Hour which is one hour each year that encourages people to turn off unnecessary lights and appliances. The event is organized by World Wildlife Fund and its purpose is to unite people all over the world in reducing their environmental impact. It’s on the last Saturday of March and this year ran from 8:30-9:30 p.m. in the participant’s local time.
After reading up on Earth Hour I thought to myself, “Well, this could be fun.” I knew my house was going to be empty at 8:30. I was home for spring break and my mom would be working so it was just me. At precisely 8:30 I lit a bunch of candles and turned off all of the lights in my house…and then I realized it was 7:30. I turned all of the lights back on so I could finish the casserole I was making. When 8:30 rolled around I did the same as before. The candles were still lit so I just turned the lights off. Then I realized how creepy my old house is when I’m the only one home and all of the lights are off. I’ve never been a fan of the dark. At that point I realized I didn’t know what I was going to do for an hour. I decided on the dishes because they needed done and I didn’t have anything better to do. So by candlelight, I washed a sink full of dishes. I couldn’t really see what I was washing or if I had enough soap but I labored on without light. You know, the movies always make candlelight seem so bright but it’s really not.
Turning off the lights for an hour doesn’t seem like such a hard thing to do, and it really wasn’t. It gave me time to get away from a screen and actually think about things. And I had the best time I think I’ve ever had doing those dishes. They didn’t all actually get clean. I had to rewash them the next day.
Earth Hour is a great event. I hope to continue it every year, but maybe I’ll have a dishwasher next time.
sambates 
March 29th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
I think you should get extra credit for washing your dishes by hand. That’s earth friendly too (especially if you didn’t run the water the entire time, which I do — much to the chagrin of my 10-year-old). 🙂
March 30th, 2011 at 5:49 am
Now all you need is a solar powered dishwasher. Or you could try a book and a glass of wine. They seem to go well with candle light. But what do I know, I don’t even own a candle.
March 30th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Always fun to see how people deal with situations like earth hour. Students hate when I give them a media fast in JMC 100.
April 10th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
This is such a cool thing to see. I wish there were more and more of the earth friendly promotions because over the long run they add up and are really benefitual for the environment. And Dr. H I never hated my Media fast in JMC 100, I just hated my roomates for always being on media around me.