EARTH HOUR! Let's make it happen.

[Funkychicken]

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.

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.

[SalTheGal]

Awesome, I'll be signing up for sure.

Am I allowed to cut and paste this to email to others?

[Lunar]

I'm in it! I have already been telling everyone I know to switch off too. I only wish that shops would do this too, I know they would lose some money, but in the bigger scheme of things, they are doing soo much more.

[the_queen]

I'll do it!!
:D



(But can someone who's not going to do it, please tape the Biggest Loser Weigh In for me, ta muchly :laughing:)

[Lunar]

I'll do it!!




(But can someone who's not going to do it, please tape the Biggest Loser Weigh In for me, ta muchly )


:shame: this IS serious yanno:rolleyes: .... This is bigger than any TV show. I know you were only making light of it, not really being serious and all, but I really want to stress to everyone how serious this all is. If we don't do something now, our grandchildren, yes it's not really that far away, will have nothing. Beautiful parts of our country will no longer exist if we continue along this distructive self centred path. It's really quite frightening and terribly sad.

I luv u queenie, you know that, so please don't take this as an attack.:kiss:

[Funkychicken]

Awesome, I'll be signing up for sure.

Am I allowed to cut and paste this to email to others?
Yes, please do! It came to me in an email and I am doing everything I can to get the message out there. Check out the site when you register and there are lots of ways to add the message to things like myspace, blogs etc...

Thank-you all so much for showing support in this. :yelclap:

[chellegoth]

(But can someone who's not going to do it, please tape the Biggest Loser Weigh In for me, ta muchly :laughing:)

Did I miss read something or can't you watch the tv in the dark? It says turn all your lights off or is there fine print saying you have to turn off everything?

[Lunar]

Did I miss read something or can't you watch the tv in the dark? It says turn all your lights off or is there fine print saying you have to turn off everything?

the point of it is to switch off everything. All at the power points, so not even stand by can be on. Stand by still uses power.... you know that little red light that is on the bottom corner of the tv... that uses power too.

I am going to organise something with some family and friends maybe, maybe a BBQ outside, in candle light. It's still light here at 7.30 so we will not need candles till about 8-8.30 anyway.

[the_queen]

I luv ya, ya big hippy :D I admire your passion :yes:

I do know how serious this all is, I have this disorder where I can't be too serious about things that are really really really scary, I have to make a stupid joke so that I can stay here in denial.

It is very serious.

Have you seen An Inconvenient Truth? The glaciers!! :eek: Scary scary stuff.

[bronny-jane]

Did I miss read something or can't you watch the tv in the dark? It says turn all your lights off or is there fine print saying you have to turn off everything?

oh i cant miss biggest loser, i will turn everything else off though, not just on the day but everyday, i want to save 10% off my electricity bill... and save the world too:D

[spring]

Ill do it too & so will my mum:yes: I hope enough people do it to make a difference:fingerscrossed:
Does it matter if I do it a bit later than the set time? I don't want to be shilly shallying around in the dark with a toddler:o

[KarniF00l]

I am going to organise something with some family and friends maybe, maybe a BBQ outside, in candle light. It's still light here at 7.30 so we will not need candles till about 8-8.30 anyway.

What an awesome idea Lunar :yes: I think i might steal that and use it myself. Maybe then family and friends will subject to it.

Thanks for the info Sal !


ETA: Spring, spend a few $$ on candles :D

[Funkychicken]

Good on you BJ. The incentive to save a few bucks is always good too!

Spring, I think the idea of Earth hour is to do it collectively but if you are able to do this at ANY time, it is fantastic. maybe we should all try to do it once a week or fortnight. Over time, this has to have a big impact.

Lauren, go for it. If you can get more people involved, all the better!

[KarniF00l]

I might actually print out some of the banners and posters and give them to the schools in the area. Hmm.. might even hand them around to shops aswell :detective:

Sal, Good idea making it a weekly thing :yes:

[Funkychicken]

I might actually print out some of the banners and posters and give them to the schools in the area. Hmm.. might even hand them around to shops aswell :detective:

Sal, Good idea making it a weekly thing :yes:
I tried to do that today but my colour printer seems to have died and my laser is out of toner! I'm seriously thinking of investing in a colour laser printer!

[MilkOnTap]

Hubby and I will be doing this for sure!! I've added the banner to my zoints profile, info on my blog, and extra stuff on Little Pod's website for my family and friends to peruse.

This is definitely a positive step in the right direction and I hope that as many Sydney-siders; heck, as many Australians in general get behind it!!!

Since this is a thread that is pro-environment, I'd like to add a link for Sydney-siders to have free fluorescent lightbulbs installed throughout their entire house hold...

http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=70735

[KaM]

This is a fantastic idea but we might have to do it another time. Though Im pretty much on everyones back in this house to turn things off!!

Its my little girl's 1st birthday that day and we will have lots of people over for cake after dinner.

[MilkOnTap]

This is a fantastic idea but we might have to do it another time. Though Im pretty much on everyones back in this house to turn things off!! Its my little girl's 1st birthday that day and we will have lots of people over for cake after dinner.

It doesn't have to be an inconvenient thing though Krisseh - turn it into a positive thing and promote it through her birthday!

By 2050, a 6m storm surge will put Sydney underwater. By doing something as simple as turning off your lights on the night of your daughters 1st birthday, by the time she is 43 she hopefully wont be forced to live somewhere because her hometown has been flooded due to melting glaciers.

[Funkychicken]

Hubby and I will be doing this for sure!! I've added the banner to my zoints profile, info on my blog, and extra stuff on Little Pod's website for my family and friends to peruse.

This is definitely a positive step in the right direction and I hope that as many Sydney-siders; heck, as many Australians in general get behind it!!!

Since this is a thread that is pro-environment, I'd like to add a link for Sydney-siders to have free fluorescent lightbulbs installed throughout their entire house hold...

http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=70735
Ohhh, I added info in mine but didn't realise I could add the actual banner thingy (you know what I mean!) . I'm off to try to make it 'proper'. :p

[MilkOnTap]

Hope you dont mnd funky - I had to steal your awesome signature!!!

[KarniF00l]

I think you might have started a new trend Sal ;)

[MilkOnTap]

I have just discovered another campaign intended to make the 'Lights Out' thing an ongoing venture.

Lights Off Australia will take place on the first Wednesday of every month.

City skylines filled with burning bright lights will be a thing of the past if Sunrise and the Australian Conservation Foundation have their way.

Companies taking part need to switch off any non-essential lights when they finish work on that day. Residents are asked to go without one light they'd otherwise have on.

The first Lights Off night is Wednesday March 7 2007.

http://cooltheglobe.com/lightsoff

[kymmy]

I saw the lights off ad on tv - great idea. Every little bit helps. I will be in on the 31st March.
So who will be online that night?!

[kiah]

I have just discovered another campaign intended to make the 'Lights Out' thing an ongoing venture.

Lights Off Australia will take place on the first Wednesday of every month.

City skylines filled with burning bright lights will be a thing of the past if Sunrise and the Australian Conservation Foundation have their way.

Companies taking part need to switch off any non-essential lights when they finish work on that day. Residents are asked to go without one light they'd otherwise have on.

The first Lights Off night is Wednesday March 7 2007.

http://cooltheglobe.com/lightsoff

It would b great if we could do a reminder on those days...to help a little..i def want to join in:thumbsup:

[MilkOnTap]

Great thinking Kiah - I'll try to remember... Putting it in my diary now :yes:

[Acacia]

Hi everyone,
Its wonderful that so many people are participating in earth hour. Lets not forget there are plenty of things we can do everyday to help solve climate change. Here is a link to 51 easy actions against climate change
http://risingtide.org.au/files/51%20Actions.pdf

For anyone who is interested im setting up a mothers concerned about climate change group and e-group. If you want to be involved please pm me.

[mel79]

Hi there

I've signed up too.
Thanks for all the great links that have been provided onthis thread too! :thumbsup:

I'm not quite a mother yet but i am very interested in joining a mothers concerned about climate change discussion/egroup. ( Sent you a PM Acacia)

Good on everyone for doing something so positive!!

[stellaj]

Bumping this!!

[phineas]

Hope you dont mnd funky - I had to steal your awesome signature!!!

I'm stealing it too!

Great thread FC :thumbsup:

[Funkychicken]

Wow, when I was at school, no-one EVER wanted to be like me! :D I was the one trying to keep up with what's 'cool' and now look, people are following MY lead. But the difference now is that this is just so, so important. I am hereby stating that I allow everyone on this forum to steal my sig! :yelclap:

*even if I am not technological enough to work out how to copy the banner into my profile. I had to make do with words* :o

[Bibs]

:wave:
I'm in. Better go buy some candles.

[MilkOnTap]

BUMP - Its tomorrow!!!

[MilkOnTap]

Oh and I forgot to add - all NSW residents who are with AGL electricity can get a rebate by participating in the EarthHour!

AGL to offset greenhouse gas emissions of customers for Earth Hour
AGL Energy Ltd (AGL) has committed to offsetting the greenhouse gases emitted by electricity generated for more than 180,000 customers in NSW for the entire 24 hours of 31 March. This is in addition to AGL's existing commitment to turn off its lights for Earth Hour on 31 March between 7:30pm and 8:30pm.

AGL Managing Director Paul Anthony said: "We will make sure that AGL customers' electricity usage in NSW on Saturday will be effectively 100% greenhouse neutral.

"We will do so by purchasing verified abatement certificates to offset the greenhouse emissions associated with generating electricity for our residential electricity customers in NSW not just for one hour, but for a 24-hour day.

AGL estimates that this equates to more than 4,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

"Earth Hour is a timely reminder that change begins at home. At AGL we already take carbon emissions and the price of carbon into every investment and business decision we make.

AGL generates about a third of its electricity using generators with zero greenhouse gas emissions and a further 47% with low emission gas-fired power stations, with plans to to boost its total low or zero emission generation capacity to more than 80%.

"On 31 March at 7.30pm, everyone in Sydney has the opportunity, without having to spend a cent, to contribute in their own way to address climate change. The challenge presented by Earth Hour is simple: go dark for an hour and prove that we can all work together to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions.

"The ongoing challenge for all Australians is to focus not only on energy efficiency but also to consider supporting future investment in renewable energy by switching to a government accredited GreenPower product," Mr Anthony said.

AGL's website contains more information about AGL's accredited GreenPower products.


http://earthhour.smh.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57

[WitchHazel]

Count me in. I've got some nice new scented candles!:D

[KarniF00l]

:yelclap: Hazellew.

Just bumping this up for tonight!!

So far 34,911 individuals and 1224 businesses have committed to Earth Hour and we need MORE people to register and join in.

To register go to : http://earthhour.smh.com.au/

[catalicious]

Ok so to sum it up what do we need to do.....??

Turn our lights off.... Or all the power in the house off..???

Do you have to register or can you just do it...

[KarniF00l]

Just turn off the main power switch at 7:30 tonight until 8:30.

If you are worried about food in the fridge, you can leave the fridge on and turn everything else off at the switch on the wall, though it won't make much difference turning the fridge off for an hour if you keep it closed. Up to you!

[MilkOnTap]

Ok so to sum it up what do we need to do.....??

Turn our lights off.... Or all the power in the house off..???

Do you have to register or can you just do it...

The aim is to turn all the lights and power out in your house. If you cant do all the power, then at least all the lights.

It is best to register - that way the organisation who has campaigned for Earth Hour (WWF) has a good solid figure to see who is really making a difference :thumbsup:

[catalicious]

I just did register....thanks guys ill try my best...

I wonder what condition bubhub will be in over this hours id really like to see how many people are still on....

Oh I can as I am on my laptop and have wireless broadband....lol

[MilkOnTap]

Oh I can as I am on my laptop and have wireless broadband....lol

Dont you have to plug your broadband into a powerpoint somewhere? We have wireless, but it still has to be plugged in... :confused:

[KarniF00l]

nope, it runs off the towers PL. Like say a mobile phone.. it's like that. It's basically a sim card to put into your lappy.

Hollywood - you may want to make sure it's fully charged up by tonight then ;)

[catalicious]

No I have this card its about the size of a key card that goes inside my computer.......

I have not one cable coming from the laptop even my mouse is run by a battery...

YAY!!!!! NO cables no power just charge it once for 1 hours and it lasts for 4.5 hours..

[Billy]

I'm in!! :thumbsup:

Everything will be off here except a fan on Rhianna while she is asleep... (I don't want her to overheat in our weather :detective:)

[Kizmet]

:smiliedance: hollywood I will be on my laptop with our wireless internet as well :smiliedance: unless im still at my mother's house


Looking forward to doing it! Although Dh and I are in bed every night by 7:30-8 every night with all the lights off except one lamp and our tv so we are already helping :smiliedance:

[Funkychicken]

I am all set for this tonight. The children will be in bed and DH is going out to a function, so I can sit and read by candlelight and soak up the peace. :yelclap:

[hippee]

I am aiming for the kids to be :sleeping: so I will have a long hot candlelit bath. Imagine how wrinkly I will be after an hour!! :laughing:

[KarniF00l]

Sounds lovely FC and Hippee.

I plan on keeping Dakota occupied in the jolly jumper, or at least try to. The others will be asleep :yelclap: I made sure i tired them out today for this.

[MilkOnTap]

No I have this card its about the size of a key card that goes inside my computer.......

I have not one cable coming from the laptop even my mouse is run by a battery...

YAY!!!!! NO cables no power just charge it once for 1 hours and it lasts for 4.5 hours..

Oh wow! Thats fantastic! :yelclap:

Not long to go now! 35 minutes and counting!

[Becteria]

Candles - Check
games to play and Books to read Maikyra and her two cousins i am babysitting - check
Torches for our nightime possum hunt - check.

[NewMe]

20 mins to go... DD is in bed sleeping(:fingerscrossed: ), and I should be in bed by then with all items off! Yay! I'm so proud to be involved! Thanks Sal for starting this thread!

[mytwolilprinces]

Yay, kids are in bed, candles are ready! I am interested to see if the street participates or not, I will be spying out the window to see if there are any lights on :shame: :laughing:

[Seekrit]

So.. can I turn all the lights off but sit by the calming glow on my computer screen :o

[Little_Toad]

Two minutws to go, I'm defininitely in it..


Although I have to say I think its a pathetic effort just doing it for an hour once a year.

My old apartment we had a view of the whole city and harbour and we were talking about it a year ago. Why do they need to have the lights on at all during the night?

yes it makes the sky line look pretty, but what a waste of energy!!

[Billy]

How did everyone go? :D

I read a good book by torchlight ;)

[KarniF00l]

:yelclap: oh that was fun!! I had a... well what it felt like was a 'hippy' debate with DH for a whole hour :rolleyes:

anyhoo.. maybe we should do this on a weekly basis, same night and time every week ?

[MilkOnTap]

That was fantastic! Hubby and I went for a stroll around the neighbourhood (mostly so he could see who else was/wasnt participating LOL)

We're still sitting in the dark, but now just have the footy on the TV and the laptop on my lap :)

[Funkychicken]

We got home from a BBQ at 7pm and I was flat out trying to feed Hamish and have him settled in bed. Then I got DH to show me where the mains switch is, lit about a dozen candles including one for each of the children in their rooms (they thought it was pretty exciting), said goodbye to DH (who went off to another BBQ!) then flicked the switch.

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........

Children fell asleep within minutes so I blew out their candles and settled down to read my book but me being exhausted, I ended up blowing out all but one candle and then dozing, awakening about 8.55pm.

How easy was that???? :thumbsup: I am in total agreement that we should do it more often-imagine the impact we could have by doing this on a regular basis!


PS- Seek, your sense of humour gets me LOL yet again. :D

[SassyMummy]

I decided last minute to do it (well, at about 7.20... so more like 10 mins).

I had a candlelit bath with DD, and we stayed in there for ages. We then had a play in the loungeroom, and she tried to get me to read her a book but I could hardly see so I couldn't do it.

I forgot to turn off my fishtank light though (it's in my bedroom and the door was shut, so I forgot), and at one stage I quickly flicked the bathroom light on and off again because I needed to quickly chuck something in there but I was scared.

It was kinda nice having hte bath, but it was scary to be in the house after that. The flickering the candles made the shadows move everywhere... I kept thinking there was someone in the house... and I also kept worrying that a brown snake would come and kill us both (I've been freaking out about them since the dog 2 door down was killed by one last week).

[stompy]

I understand what you mean SassyMummy, I am a bit of a chicken when it comes to being in the dark:o

My sister couldn't believe that I did it, and sat alone in the house with only a few candles and my sleeping dd for company.

[Bibs]

It was really nice :thumbsup:. I think we'll do this every week.

DD usually goes to bed at 8-8.30pm so she stayed up with us. We turned everything off incl all appliances at the powerpoint, except for the fridge and of course we had all the lights off as well.

We all had a candlelight dinner and DD had some dessert with us. After we finished hubby got out his guitar and sang us some songs, DD loved it.

[AngelZara]

Im an idiot! i so wanted to do it and then forgot all about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shame: :shame:

:laughing: Ill do it tommorow night to make up for it. :yes: PROMISE!

[Funkychicken]

Never mind Kimberly. The fact that you have acknowledged this is worth it. :thumbsup: All the best for a lights out night tomorrow night. :)

[Bron]

I think it was really really great. Not only did we make a symbolic statement by switching off our lights, but DH and I spent an hour together just sitting and talking, without the interruptions of cooking and television and computers. We're going to do it every week, simply because we enjoyed each others company so much.

I really think that it has the potential to be a really positive thing for families as well as for the environment.

[Suzyanneau]

Wow I must be really slow. I only just found this and it sounds like such a good idea. I will certainly start making a much bigger effort to save power now.

[Funkychicken]

I think it was really really great. Not only did we make a symbolic statement by switching off our lights, but DH and I spent an hour together just sitting and talking, without the interruptions of cooking and television and computers. We're going to do it every week, simply because we enjoyed each others company so much.

I really think that it has the potential to be a really positive thing for families as well as for the environment.
Couldn't have said it better myself, Bron. :thumbsup:
Although DH was out and I fell asleep in the chair, but there is potential for conversation. :D

[stellaj]

well I actually thought it was 7-8pm for some reason so we kind of did it:o

[Funkychicken]

well I actually thought it was 7-8pm for some reason so we kind of did it:o
:laughing: LOL, Mel.