Normally things like Earth Hour sort of annoy me… it feels like a hype that people get excited about, participate in, pat themselves on the back for saving the world, then an hour later it’s over and everything goes back to normal. But somehow this Earth Hour felt legitimate, or at least intriguing. Maybe because it started here (in 2007) and subsequently has garnered an enormous amount of media attention with landmarks all around the world participating (Golden Gate Bridge, London Eye, Sears Tower, Eiffel Tower, Opera House, etc).
So we got some takeout, a glass of wine, and sat out on our balcony until 8:30 PM rolled around, at which time we switched off our balcony christmas tree lights and watched as the city went dark. It was pretty cool. The Opera House and Harbor Bridge, normally aglow in the night sky, eerily went dark, and the entire skyline slowly went a few notched dimmer.
The funny part is, the next day the entire city lost power when a substation blew out (yes, the entire city), and that was like 10 times darker than earth hour the night before. Oh well… baby steps.
normal sydney sky
sydney sky during earth hour 2009
31 March 2009 at 9:38 pm
so maybe that was earth’s way of saying “this is what i mean by lights off!”
31 March 2009 at 9:48 pm
Lori’s made a good point!
12 April 2009 at 9:16 am
Hahaha, agreed.
That is kinda cool though, I’ve never even heard of “Earth Hour” until now
26 June 2009 at 1:48 am
incredible