The Nourisher - Editor’s Blog

EARTH HOUR - 7.30pm to 8.30pm - Saturday March 31, 2007

Earth Hour is a fabulous opportunity for you and your family to do something about climate change. On one night, in one hour, more will be done, more will be demonstrated, and more will be learned than through a hundred ‘talk-fests’. And you can help make it happen.

What is Earth Hour?
It sounds simple, but it is very, very dramatic. At 7.30pm on March 31st 2007, we will be encouraging companies, government departments, individuals and families to turn off their lights for just one hour. If we meet our objectives during the first Earth Hour, the savings in green house gas emissions will be the equivalent of taking 75,000 medium sized cars off the road for one whole year! Now that’s something worth doing.

Why?
The facts are alarmingly clear:

The climate is changing! The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1990. In fact 2005 was the hottest year since record keeping began. (Australian Bureau of Meteorology)
Almost 70% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions come from energy production. (ABS)
More than 95% of the Great Barrier Reef will have been destroyed by 2050 if carbon dioxide emissions aren’t reduced. (WWF-International)

One million species worldwide are facing extinction due to climate change. (University of Leeds)

But not everybody listens to the facts. Earth Hour is your opportunity to demonstrate how a simple change in our way of life could change, and help save, our planet.

The goals of Earth Hour:

Households : Most of us use unnecessary electricity. Appliances on standby, old style light bulbs, lights left on when we’re not using them. Earth Hour will help us all to realise just how simply we can make a dramatic impact upon global warming (and our own power bills). We will see it in action.

Companies : We want companies to be involved. If every company in Australia turned off its lights when the buildings weren’t in use, and combined it with energy saving technology, we would save between 2 and 4 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses every year. Earth Hour will show companies just how easy that is.

Power Companies : We will be asking power companies to provide special deals for companies and households to switch to Green Power.

To make it an annual event : Out of the 8,766 hours in a year, let’s give one back to the earth.

What you can do:

Sign up to Earth Hour and Pledge to turn off your lights on March 31st from 7.30pm to 8.30pm by logging onto www.earthhour.org.

You will receive all the information you need to make Earth Hour a great success (and to cut your own energy bills in the long term). Pledging is free.

Get off standby : Turn off all the electronic equipment and appliances in your home that are not being used or are on standby. Computers, televisions, stereo equipment, phone chargers, DVD or video equipment - you can find out more about this from WWF at wwf.org.au

Tell a friend : Spread the word about earth Hour by involving your friends, family and workmates. Get them to pledge at earthhour.org and most importantly, turn off the lights at 7.30pm Saturday 31 March 2007.

Another thing you can do before the event is switch to Green Power: Contact your electricity provider today. If all Australians switched to Green Power the saving in CO 2 emissions would be the equivalent of what is pumped out of 40 million cars! That’s like taking every car in Australia off the road four times over.

Spread the word - Once you have signed up for Earth Hour tell a friend; spread the word at work; tell your boss; mention it at school, at your local sports club or society group, you can even run it past your neighbours!

Make it an event. Get the neighbours to switch off their lights and head out into the park for the hour; take some binoculars and look at the stars; sit and talk; explore your backyard by torchlight; have fun with sparklers; or just go for a stroll. Do something non-electric as a family; make some candles, read by their light; have a picnic-at-dusk; pretend you are camping; have a candlelight dinner.

For more info on Earth Hour, check out www.earthhour.org

EARTH HOUR. MAKE IT HAPPEN.

About the Author...

Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).