30 March 2008

Local Earth Hour Report

At our home in Detroit, Michigan, at 7:45 PM last night, there was a mad scramble to get the computers down and the lights off and locate candles, oil lamps and matches. I was afraid we wouldn't make it, but we did! YAY! We could see three other houses from our front windows that were dark, so we decided to walk around the block and count dark and light houses. On our immediate block, there were 111 electrically lit houses and only 17 that were dark, and some of those were abandoned (empty, for sale) and I am sure on a Saturday night, some people were just out partying. There was a row of six houses all dark on the next block over, but we had agreed only to count our block. BB thinks maybe 5% of the people complied. He thinks most people didn't even know about it. I was really disappointed.

PB complained bitterly the whole time and kept wanting to turn the light on and if I used the indiglo on my watch to let him know how long he had to wait, he called me a hypocrite. He refused to do anything but sit there and complain for a full hour. BB told PB we were "doing it for Mama." Not for the earth or the environment, but for me. In other words, they wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't insisted. Very sad. I am sad, hope your report is better.

4 comments:

Michael Serafin-St. John said...

The overall publicity for Earth Hour may have been a bit deficient, but the same was true thirty years ago for Earth Day, and it took several years for the Smokeout movement to gain any traction. The important thing for us all to remember is that you don't build a Rome in one day. If you could, it would fall down the next.

Raven said...

Brava to you for going ahead. I made a compromise with myself. Kept my lights off all evening through and slightly beyond Earth Hour. Turned the TV off for Earth hour, but even though it went into sleep mode, left my computer on. Can't use candles with Angel, the world's naughtiest kitty around and had the crazy feeling that somehow I wouldn't make it the two feet from my chair to the computer unless I left it on. Still, I'm hoping that my three extra hours of lights out balanced the one hour of sleeping computer. I think Michael is right. This will catch on over time and with better publicity.... and say someone in the White House with a brain and a conscience.

Michael Serafin-St. John said...

I guess I don't blame Bush, or want the White House or Govt getting in on this in any way... better it be grassroots and not political...

And next time, it should be expanded to TWO hours, and after that THREE and so on

Michael Serafin-St. John said...

PBS had a special mini series from England about a lady prime minister who pushed for a day without using cars...that would be interesting, too...