Earth Hour 2010

Earth Day 2010 is this Saturday, March 27. Turn off all non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour, act now on climate change, and incidentally, join at least a billion people worldwide for a global party!

But it's also good to address the issue of this being just a "token" sort of thing. Let's don't just leave it at that, and practice some common sense.

Some people use their desktop computers not only for the usual sorts of things but also for other things, like being a server for a website, or beaming music throughout the house, or some other resource. But if you're not actually using it at the same time, there's nothing wrong with saving a little electricity by just turning the monitor off.

You know what I do? I get cold easily, so during those nights and rare days when the temperatures drop suddenly, I simply turn off the electric fan in my apartment. Yes, even if this means waking up to do it - the cold makes me get up and grab a blanket anyway, so why not turn the fan off at the same time? No sense in being made colder and more miserable than I already am.

It's also a good idea to install environmentally friendly light-bulbs: they last for a long time, don't use up too much power, and give off a nice light.

And there are certain things that one can enjoy without needing to use a lot of electricity and/or resources. Try going off the grid from time to time, to read, knit/crochet/spin, play board games or chess.

Here's the official video for Earth Hour 2010, from http://www.wwf.org.ph/earthhour/.



Remember, Saturday night is all right for lights-out!