Getting involved. This weekend is Earth Hour, or rather Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm is. Some of us are organising a local event which means I will have to get my newly bought camera (2 months ago) out of its box and try to work out how to take a photo with it! A band will be playing - they are not yet famous so cannot be found on the web but they are called The Dudleys and they are local. All the better. Residents in Grange are invited to bring a rug, candles, food and whatever else to a local park and enjoy the dark that once would have driven them to bed at an early hour, and now makes them turn on lights and watch TV. What do we do outside in the dark any more? How well can we see in the dark? This and other questions will be asked on Saturday night as people prepare to do something out of the ordinary. It is not very challenging as it is only for an hour, but imagine if we all tried to do without something we depend on for a whole day. The car, mobile phone, TV or radio, food, tea or coffee.... How quickly we would feel the effects of not having or using one of these items for a day, on both subtle and obvious levels. Make it longer and so much the better for noticing the effects. Perhaps next year. Meanwhile, we will register a small shiver (right word?) on the Richter scale of acknowledging that the planet has a problem.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Earth Hour
Getting involved. This weekend is Earth Hour, or rather Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm is. Some of us are organising a local event which means I will have to get my newly bought camera (2 months ago) out of its box and try to work out how to take a photo with it! A band will be playing - they are not yet famous so cannot be found on the web but they are called The Dudleys and they are local. All the better. Residents in Grange are invited to bring a rug, candles, food and whatever else to a local park and enjoy the dark that once would have driven them to bed at an early hour, and now makes them turn on lights and watch TV. What do we do outside in the dark any more? How well can we see in the dark? This and other questions will be asked on Saturday night as people prepare to do something out of the ordinary. It is not very challenging as it is only for an hour, but imagine if we all tried to do without something we depend on for a whole day. The car, mobile phone, TV or radio, food, tea or coffee.... How quickly we would feel the effects of not having or using one of these items for a day, on both subtle and obvious levels. Make it longer and so much the better for noticing the effects. Perhaps next year. Meanwhile, we will register a small shiver (right word?) on the Richter scale of acknowledging that the planet has a problem.
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2 comments:
Kia ora Andrea,
When I go into the mountains for days at a time, I find it easy to adjust to not having electricity, phones, tv, and such. The biggest adjustment is really getting used to the lack of man made noise, and to hear just the sound of the mountains themselves. Carrying with you all the things we REALLY need would be a bit of food and preparation gear, clothes for the condition, and shelter. If we have those three things, and know where we are, then things are good. Oh, I do take along a bit of tea and coffee though :).
Funny out here when I head out I always make sure I grab my phone or ipod. Maybe they should do Earth Week or Month, now that would be something. Kia kaha.
Cheeers,
Robb
Hi Robb
As it turns out our earth hour event was a small party of friends with no recruits from my neighbourhood. I like to think we may have at least jogged a few memories on the night. I looked at your blog and want to get back to New Zealand - Aotearoa - sometime. My sights are set on the Heaphy Track in the South Island but your photos make the north tempting. I remember fondly the Coromandel Peninsula in 1976! Someone said, earth hour should be an enforced length of time when no electricity is available. I am beginning to think that is a good idea, and people might enjoy it. Might not be so good for population growth though....
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