Saturday, March 26, 2011

earth hour 2011

oh phooey. i almost forgot about this. well, i guess it's better late than never.

as part of the social causes component of this blog (and me), i've taken up helping out for events like Earth Hour. it's not really much. all i do is write up posts to inform people about it and then do what the occasion asks: turn off all electric devices for 1 hour at a specific date and time. which isn't really that much to ask if you think about it.

you can check out my previous posts from the last 2 years it's been observed:
if you want to learn more, you can also check out the official home page:
and, of course, there is also a video that summarizes everything nicely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mxjbip6y04
in brief summary, Earth Hour is meant to raise awareness of energy consumption and energy scarcity, with the hope of encouraging greater conservation and efficiency. it started as a grass-roots movement in Australia in 2007, but since then has expanded to more than 1 billion people in cities around the world. it's now managed by the World Wildlife Fund, but is marked by anyone interested in its message.

for this year, Earth Hour is Saturday, March 26, 8:30pm. for those of you way ahead of my timezone (Europe, Africa, Asia, and especially the Western Pacific) you'll have to forgive me, since this post is being written as your Earth Hour is ending. but hopefully i can still catch viewers in my vicinity (West Coast USA), particularly in Southern California, which continues to be a glaring hole of obliviousness relative to the rest of the world--this year there wasn't even a mention in local news media, even as there has been extensive reporting in the rest of the world and despite the fact that news outlets had reports on it the previous 2 years.

for my part, i'll turn all electrical devices off for 1 hour at 8:30pm, including (gulp) my computer and mobile telephone. and with this post, hopefully i've caught your attention and motivated you to do the same.

cheers.

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