Earth Hour 2009: Ways to Celebrate

Earth Hour is an international event created by the World Wildlife Fund in the interest of raising awareness of global warming and creating widespread solidarity against it. Participants are encouraged to turn off their lights and other electrical appliances on Saturday March 28th from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. Countries all across earth are participating this year, in hopes of opening political leaders' eyes to the importance of focusing on environmental concerns globally. Homes, businesses, and even major monuments all take part in earth hour; in the past, "Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome's Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness." (according to the Earth Hour website, http://www.earthhour.org/about/)

Actions on this scale send a powerful message about how seriously people all over are taking global warming, and clearly say that something needs to be done.

So, if you want to be part of a huge and significant movement and take a stand for the earth, celebrate Earth Hour this year, and tell your friends and family!

So what can you do to celebrate earth hour? What is there to do when all the power is out? Here are some ideas!

1.) Have an Earth Hour party with a green theme--invite friends over to celebrate with you. You can make green drinks (like mojitos! Mmmm!) and eat green food (like....edamame? Or green jello, or mint chocolate chip ice cream or...well you get the point). Put up green decorations, wear green, you could even buy little house plants and give them out as gifts. ( Look up some plants--like Cacti or spider plants--that are easy to take care of.)

2.) Make a fire pit and have a fire. Sit around the fire and tell stories and toast marshmallows or make s'mores (you know, the normal fire stuff).

3.) Have an acoustic music party--play (unplugged) instruments with your friends or family, like acoustic guitars, harmonicas, djembes, etc, and sing.

4.) Light some beeswax or soy candles and write letters, paint, or draw by candlelight.

5.) Play hide and go seek, inside or outside. Or if you have a lot of people, play sardines (like hide and go seek, but one person hides and everyone else seeks. When a seeker finds the hider, she hides with him. This continues until there's only one seeker left).

6.) Take a walk downtown or around your neighborhood. It'll be cool to see all the lights off.

7.) Take part in some guerrilla gardening (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerilla_gardening for more information). Or get together w/ friends or family and plant a small garden or tree in one of your yards.

8.) Play a board game by candlelight.

9.) Meditate. Or do yoga in the dark.

10.) Throw a party where you find unique ways to reuse old things that you no longer use or need (like old clothes, toys, dishes, etc.). Turn them into artwork, find other ways to use them, or give them away. Or have a swap party where people bring stuff they don't want or need anymore and everyone can trade.

11.) Obtain a bonzai tree and trim, prune, and shape it.

12.) If you have kids, or silly friends, build a fort and hide out in it.

13.) Get together with a group of people and discuss various ways to reduce your carbon footprint. You can talk about things you already do that work for you, collaborate about good places to buy local, share meal and shopping ideas, get tips for increasing your gas mileage, and talk about ways to raise awareness, among many other things.

14.) Lie down outside and look at the stars.

15.) Go for a leisurely, meandering bike ride.

16.) Reduce waste by throwing a leftover potluck--have friends bring leftovers and share. Or have a cold and local food potluck, where everyone brings something made/grown locally that doesn't require cooking, microwaving, or any other electricity.

17.) Look into events going on in your area. Many cities should have something going on in honor of Earth Hour.

Those are just some ideas. If none of them grab you, brainstorm with friends about something fun to do. Just make sure you turn the lights out!

To learn more about Earth Hour, check out the website: http://www.earthhour.org/