Earth Hour 2010

I encouraged everyone who would listen (and many who wouldn't) to participate in Earth Hour this year, but I nearly forgot to turn the lights off. This time I was reminded at 8:29 PM, with one minute to go until the commencement of Earth Hour 2010. I made a mad dash around the house to turn off all lights and non-essential electronics. My dad was watching the hockey game and I let him leave the TV on (this is Canada, you've got to make an exception for that.) I left my computer on too, but don't tell anyone.

With the lights off, I went out onto the street with my camcorder (and made this video) to see how many other houses had gone dark. Walking past the front door, I tripped the porch light's motion sensor (with the main power switch controlled by the upstairs tenant) and it clicked on. D'oh! Fortunately, the street was empty so no one noticed and if someone had, they didn't say anything.

There were many houses which still had their lights on, including the daycare across the street. A man walked by and probably thought I was talking to myself since he most likely didn't see the video camera in my hand. There was nothing to see out here so I grimaced as I walked past the motion activated porch light again and back into the house.

I tweeted about having my lights off for Earth Hour. A tweet by YouTube celebrity NigaHiga said that he would not be observing Earth Hour 2010 because he would be watching UFC, but he promised to sleep an extra hour that night to compensate for it. Not the same thing, man...

And so, an hour had passed. Pretty soon it was 9:30 PM and I didn't even notice. I didn't realize until two minutes after 9:30. I was relieved to finally have the lights back on. My dad had fallen asleep. Earth Hour 2010 was over.

Once again, we are planning to observe Earth Hour 2011. Check this blog again in March 2011.