Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Birthday Present For Me


It's my birthday on Saturday, March 29th. I'll be thirty-mumble, but that's not important right now. Do you know what I'd really like as a present? I'd like you to turn your lights off between 8pm and 9pm, local time. It's Earth Hour:

On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights. Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switched off, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world.

10.2%? That's incredible. It's what E-Day should have been if it hadn't been so badly stuffed up.

In 2008, 24 global cities will participate in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis. It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

So please will you give me a birthday present? Will you participate in Earth Hour, even if you don't live in one of the participating cities? Will you blog about Earth Hour and spread the word? Will you email people who you think might be interested?

I think this is really important. I think this could wake up the people who say "It doesn't matter what I do, I'll cut my carbon footprint when industry/the government/China cuts theirs". It proves that what individuals do does matter. I think it could shake up the people who say "I'm not prepared to go live in a cave just in case man-made climate change is real". It proves that you don't have to go live in a cave, small changes can make a big difference if everyone does them.

Just one hour. It will be fun. Turn off your lights (and other unnecessary devices). Then you'll have to figure out how to entertain yourselves in the dark for one hour. Personally I think burning paraffin wax candles kind of defeats the point, but we can quibble over that in future years. Burn a candle if it makes you happy. Join in, have fun, and talk about it to your friends and neighbours. Sing "Happy birthday dear Melanie", and then leave a comment here to say you did it. For me. For my birthday.


UPDATE 16/11/2009: This post seemed to be attracting a great deal of spam comments so I have reluctantly deleted the spam and disabled new comments

29 comments:

Yellow said...

Oay, I'm going to be talking about it at work all day today and tomorrow. And I'm looking forward to Friday night's 'lights out' hour.

Anonymous said...

:) It's Saturday, Steph. Doing it on Friday will defeat the purpose!

For goodness sake, it's your sister's birthday: you think you'd know the day :)

(Having said that, must post present tomorrow!!!! Love you Mel)

Lindsey

Anonymous said...

I've already told my family that we are observing "lights out" hour and to plan on enjoying the darkness. This wasn't too popular with my teen and young adult-types since they appear to be somewhat addicted to technology but that's too bad...Off the lights (and computer and anything else) will go! Happy Birthday!
CLM

Yellow said...

Duh, yeah, right Saturday. The bank hol we've just had has totally thrown me. I'm off now to check that I didn't walk out of the house with no clothes on.
Mind you, doing it on Friday won't defeat the purpose. It'll still save a bit of energy. It just won't contribute to the point we're trying to make on Saturday.
Mel, you can just sit round your birthday cake for light and heat until the thirty-mumble candles have burnt down.

Anonymous said...

Right, Mel. Lights off in Ballaugh Saturday night. I'll even try to avoid candles and just sit in the darkness pondering Sam's problem on still water. That should fill the time admirably. Happy birthday sweetheart. Hope you get all you want and not just what you deserve. God Bless.

Almost Mrs Average said...

Happy Birthday Mel.... Your birthday wish has been "broadcast" on my site and as you'll see, I'll do my best. Have a great day ;-D

AMCSviatko said...

Happy birthday: http://theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com/2008/03/saturday-evening-8pm.html

:-)

Beth said...

Happy belated birthday, Melanie. I hope it was a good one!

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