Back to Basics

I originally started this blog to talk about being a mom who leans toward Being Green.  Recently, it has been more about being a mom working with her daughter.  That won't change, but I have decided that once a week, I will try and discuss one green topic.  


Earth Hour


So as I sat in my dark house this evening thinking about Earth Hour, and the impact that this one hour can make on those who participate, I decided that it was time for my blog to get back to it's green roots.


For those of you who are not aware of Earth Hour be sure to check out the link above, but for a brief explanation... At 8:30 on March 27th people pledged to turn off all non-essential lights in their homes.  Some towns made citywide events for people to participate in during the hour, and some people arranged events to help people enjoy the hour of non-electronic bliss.  


Now I admit, I ended up using Kindle on my iPhone, as I had not really prepped for this time period, especially since Jolly Green Daddy was at the fire department and I was left to myself.  However, I thought that the amount of energy used my iPhone during this time was small enough that I would be better off using it in the dark than turning on any of my other electronic distractions. 


During the hour of darkness in my home, I looked out my windows in my backyard and realized that every house surrounding me had their lights on.  I thought I would go stand in the driveway and check the rest of the houses on the block.  I could not find one other house in my view that had their lights turned off.  (I will say that my lights by my garage were on, but they are on light sensitivity sensors, and are not easy to turn on and off).  I was definitely bummed that all the street lights were still on in my supposedly green town.


When I mentioned something to JGD (who is really not that green, but puts up with my tendencies), his comment was that it was not well publicized.  I gave this some thought, as I had seen it several times on Facebook, and it realized that it depends on where you look.  I am a fan of many different green businesses and as a result they all mentioned Earth Hour and I knew about it.  I suppose if you have no interest in the environment you wouldn't know about Earth Hour, but then again, would you care?


This made me sad to realize that I like in a neighborhood, where so few people care about the environment that they had no idea that there was a movement for everyone to turn off their lights for an hour at 8:30 tonight.  


I guess my question for myself now is... what do I do now?