Week of Wellness: Day 2

It passed, it passed! Unanimously even!

Hundreds of people came to Edmonton City Hall last night to show support for the municipal development plan that now includes amendments that ensures food security issues will be considered in any developments that would impact farmland.

Here is a summary of about 3 1/2 hours of meeting time by comprehensive local blogger, Mack Male. This picture is from his website as well, and I'm even in the picture (find the lady with the red hat, and then go left one person and down one person - I'm the one with the black coat and white hoody sticking out). There are more pictures at his website, and in one of them you can see I'm scribbling furiously in my little notebook. :) Counsillor Don Iveson posted his thoughts about the municipal development plan and his closing speech in support of it here.

It was an amazing experience! There were so many people there, of all ages - from babies to people probably in their '70s or maybe even '80s. What was so heartening was the range of all ages that were there - lots of school-aged kids, and many people in their 20's. Lots of young families, and multiple generations of families.

The GEA organizers had asked people to come for 6 pm, but all the presentations for and against the municipal development plan (MDP) had spoken in the afternoon session. But the GEA speakers all took the time to say their speeches again to the gathered crowd, before city councillors returned to resume the council session. The speeches were terrific, and were made by people including a three-generation potato farmer, and the 12 year old daughter of a new berry farmer, all of whom have farms on Class 1 farmland that was, until today, at risk of being paved over for new 'development.' The new berry farmer got a huge cheer when she revealed that she had turned down the offer of an "energy company" to buy her 9 acres of land last year.

One of the best lines of the night came from Monique Nutter, GEA organizer: "local food requires local land." That says it all, doesn't it? It's so obvious, yet so profound! She went on to say that this MDP recognizes that we have a "fundemental dependence on nature's bounty" and that in passing this document, the city has given a "gift to future generations."

After the speeches, we were encouraged to talk to someone there who we didn't yet know about why we came to the meeting. I spoke with a mother and daughter next to me who came because they saw the city's subdivisions encroaching on the natural and farming areas surrounding it, and worried about where we were going to be getting our food 20 years from now. The daughter talked about how depressing it was to talk with people of "older generations" and their focus on "development only." I was inspired talking to her, because I worry that the younger generation doesn't think about anyting other than video games or what new phone to buy: she proved me wrong, and I'm glad.

At about 7:15 pm council reconvened, and the nitty gritty debate continued. I was impressed overall with how committed the councillors seemed to be to crafting a document that incorporates environmental considerations into it, and which guides development towards sustainability on a number of levels, including more firm targets for in-fill development rather than urban sprawl, protecting the river valley from "resource extraction" - i.e., gravel pits, promoting public transportation, preserving wetland areas, and now, incorporating a food and agriculture strategy into all future 'development' considerations.

At about 8:30 pm one of the organizers said that we could leave if we wished, since council knew we were here and the presentations had been made. I stayed for another half hour or so, finally packing it in as the debate on various wording changes wore me down. I turns out I should have stayed another 20 minutes, because it looks like things sped up considerably after that and the MDP passed second reading unanimously! I found that out by searching twitter's #yegcc (Edmonton City Council) hashtag this morning.

It was a great experience! Democracy in action. Beautiful.

And now today I have a day at home, which I will enjoy immensely. I picked up a new book at the library yesterday, I will meditate, do some tai chi, do a few chores, make a healthy supper, and mostly just putter around. And that's beautiful too.

As Greenpa would say...

...pick and iceberg and start pushing. Turns out Derrick Jensen (author of Endgame) says much the same thing in this excellent article.

Also, Happy Solstice everyone! I know I am sure looking forward to more daylight instead of less. When we get to December 21 I know I can make it through the Winter. Today here in the Edmonton area it is snowing quite heavily, and we have a whopping ~7 1/2 hours of daylight.

With the bitter (but far from surprising) disappointment at Copenhagen, I'm not sure if I will have much more to say on this blog before the New Year rolls around next week. Despite that, I would still like to wish everyone a joyful holiday season and a time of rest as we gather ourselves for the challenges of the coming year. May our individual actions for peaceful change in 2010 overflow into a collective juggernaut of goodness the likes of which the world has never seen!

(I can dream, can't I?)

April Showers, and other random thoughts.

Ah, it's raining. Not snowing.

I think Spring may have actually arrived! I went outside this morning to take a few pictures of things like the patch of green grass I saw near the sidewalk, and the amazing site of my thyme and lavender that actually seem to have survived the Winter. Birds are chirping like crazy out there, the squirrels are chasing each other all about, and it's raining. A nice, soft drizzle that you can hear patting the ground as the drops land. It made me smile.

I think my brain must be infected by Spring this morning as well, because I'm thinking all sorts of different things, like is Twitter useful or just another way to broadcast random thoughts out into cyber space? Some of these things like Facebook and Twitter just seem so narcissistic and egotistical to me, but yet they appeal to me and my fondness for gadget-y and neat things of all sorts. And if Facebook and Twitter are egotistical, then so are blogs I suppose. Hmm. I have decided to try out the Twitter thing anyway after a few friends and family members joined, and when I saw that even Thich Nhat Hanh has an official Twitter feed. So I've linked my twitterings (tweets?) in the side bar there - so far I'm thinking it could serve as a mini-updater for this blog, one which would contain shorter ponderings.

And now, right now as I type this, there is a story on CBC's Q, about this very thing: the narcissistic tendencies of the current society and how social networking sites figure large in this this trend. The Ego Boom is the book that host Jian Ghomeshi is talking to the authors about, and how focusing on enhancing kids' self esteem over the last 20+ years has actually raised a generation of people who think they are close to perfect, have the right to choose among limitless options, and are entitled to be famous. Ack, perhaps I should reconsider this whole blog/facebook/twitter thing after all.

Another thing I am thinking about today is the amazingness of Vandana Shiva, (who as it happens, is linked via the CBC program, The Current, which also has a twitter feed.) Vandana Shiva started the Navdanya organization, which has been instrumental in fights against logging, water depletion and genetically modified seeds. When I was listening to The Current on the radio this morning, Dr. Shiva related the astounding statistic that 200 000 farmers in Pakistan and/or India have committed suicide over the past decade because they lost their farms to Agribusiness. Dr. Shiva and her organization have been working to help farmers return to organic farming practices, with amazing results. Good things happen when people live out their principles in the everyday practices of their lives.

These random and unpolished ponderings brought to you by the effects of Spring!

Oh, and one more random goody I just heard about: Depression Cooking with Clara. These are YouTube videos of a 91 year old lady cooking and giving tips about how to stay healthy in tough times. She is adorable, and one smart lady.

Canada's Environment Minister denies water is a human right.

So, this morning I hear on the CBC Radio One news that Canada, courtesy of our so-called 'environment' minister Jim Prentice has thwarted efforts to have water declared a human right, not just a human need. Apparently Mr. Prentice is worried that if water is declared a human right, that Canada will be obligated to export water to countries that don't have enough of it. This is a total red herring. If that were the case, then we would be obligated to export everything that already is declared a human right, like food for example.

I find it absolutely astounding that, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights linked above, leisure time and property ownership are considered human rights, and yet access to safe drinking water isn't. How is this even possible?

Sadly, I know the answer to that question: it's possible because private water companies want it that way, so they can further commodify and commercialize water, selling it to those who can afford it. And that big Canadian project that Minister Prentice also talked about, the Global Environmental Monitoring System, will just help these multinationals get even better at finding where the good water is, so they can exploit it further.

This is why it is absolutely essential that we as citizens do not support private water supplies in any way, shape, or form. We need to make it a point not to buy any bottled water, including water that comes in the form of bottled juice or pop. Companies like Coke, Pepsi and Nestle are notorious for tapping into the aquifers in places like India, and even Florida, denying those citizens their right to clean water.

Today is World Water Day. But it's a sad day for water and a sad day for Canada.

Picture courtesy urbansprout

Safe Water: Canada must endorse it as a human right!

Today the CBC ran an article outlining that Canada's bid for a UN Security Council seat is being undermined by Canada's refusal to endorse the view that safe water is a human right. This is as it should be: there is nothing more essential to life than water. I wholeheartedly agree with Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians, who says that if the Harper government doesn't step up and take action about the world water crisis, then Canada doesn't deserve the Security Council seat.

And hooray for the Council of Canadians, for keeping this issue front and centre! March 22nd is World Water Day, and it is the day that the Council of Canadians launches its Blue Community Project. What can we do locally to promote water as a basic human right? We can start by talking to people about why privatization of water supplies is a bad thing. We can stop drinking bottled water and drink tap water instead. We can stop buying bottled pop and bottled juice, which are just fancier ways of bottling water. We can write to local, provincial and federal elected representatives to remind them that bottled water isn't a soloution to unsafe water supplies, but ensuring that our water supplies remain uncontaminated is. We can ask our local municipal councils, festival organizers, church groups, labor unions, or workplaces to stop selling and promoting bottled water.

One thing I've done lately to keep the importance of water foremost in my mind is to take one slow, mindful sip of water as the last thing I do before I go to bed. This serves to remind me how fortunate I am to have clean, clear, safe water coming out of my tap!

To Harp or Not to Harp

Earlier today I ready Sharon Astyk's predictions for 2009. If you've read her site at all you may recall that she was pretty bang on with her 2007 predictions, and today's post outlines that she was correct in most of her predictions for 2008 as well. She is the first to point out that she is not a soothsayer or psychic, and rightly so, but even when she's been off on a few details, the general gist of her predictions have been in the correct direction. All of this means that I pay reasonably close attention to what she's saying, evaluate it against what my experience is, and then decide if what she says seems reasonable and choose my actions accordingly. So far, I've been glad I've listened, because it's meant that I've curbed my spending in favor of debt reduction and the purchases I've made have been practical and with a view to their future utililty. Gord and I also weren't suprised by the speed or the degree of the downturn in the economy, since Sharon has been talking about this for a couple years now.

All this brings me to my current dilemma: how much do I harp to friends and family about this stuff? After all, part of why I started this blog was to have a place to put ideas "out there" without subjecting family and friends to these ideas ad infinitum. That being said, I do try to bring up the topic when it seems appropriate, but try not to go overboard and have every single conversation revolve around my apocalyptic angst and/or preparations for TEOTWAWKI. But more and more I feel I need to say: Plant a garden! Don't buy that! Store some food! Fix it or do without!

But also more and more I feel that I'm starting to sound crazed and desparate. The world situation seems to be worsening at an increasingly rapid pace, and so the things I mention can seem more extreme. I don't want to be written off by my family and friends as a nutcase who is taking things far too seriously, but yet I don't want to avoid saying something that might have been just the thing to kick-start their own preparations for a world that will be different. Not necessarily worse, but different. And these differences require some mental and physical preparations. A lot of preparations, actually.

So do I send family an email with a link to Sharon's predictions for 2009, or to Ilargi and Stonleigh's analysis of the financial situation? Or do I just keep planting, saving, storing, fixing and making do, and hoping it gets noticed and is enough? And from a Buddhist/Taoist point of view, how much of my ego is mixed in here? How much of my wanting to talk about these things is because I want to be seen as "right" or at least have people come over to my way of thinking? And why would something I say be "just the thing" anyway? I have no special communicative or pursuasive powers over and above anyone else.

So, to harp or not to harp: that is my question.

A small step for Fair Trade

Back in the Spring I had written a little about a resolution that I had proposed for consideration by my trade union at the annual convention. The resolution I had submitted was basically a request that organic, fair trade beverages be used at union functions. Well, this weekend I was at another union meeting and I found out that my resolution passed at the convention last month! The wording was weakened somewhat, in that the version that passed said that use of such products would be encouraged at all union functions. But it seems to have worked at least a little bit, because fair trade coffee was served at our meeting yesterday.

I had hoped the resolution would pass, but hadn't really expected it to. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it had. I guess it goes to show how small things can have a positive effect, even if it takes a while.

Two Water Stories

After a couple weeks of extreme busy-ness, I spent part of Sunday afternoon and yesterday evening walking around the yard, taking some pictures of the garden and just paying attention to all the flowers, trees and bugs I hadn't had time to pay attention to lately. I recently discovered I had yarrow in my yard, and bergamot too. And I had planted some sage a while ago, inspired by Heather's stories of her delicious mint and sage tea. The internet tells me that yarrow and bergamot leaves can be used in tea as well, and so I decided to give it a try, all together. The result is the beautiful concoction you see in the picture there. A pale green, leafy elixir, with a small dollop of local honey. It occurred to me that this was a totally local beverage, since the water we get is from the North Saskatchewan river. Just before my first taste, I hesitated a bit, thinking "These are some leaves I pulled off some weeds in my yard, do I really want to drink this?" I did, and the first taste convinced me that good herbal 'loose leaf' tea is available right in my own back yard!

My second water story isn't quite as nice. As I was on my way to work today I saw a huge vacuum truck parked on the side of the gravel road, with what looked like a big hose leading into the wetland area there. I pulled over and talked to the man beside the truck who confirmed that he was sucking water out of the pond at the instructions of "the County" for use at a nearby construction site. I said, nicely I think, that this is a wetland, a duck habitat, and that you can't just drain water out of it. A small duck was swimming towards us as I was talking. The man replied that I'd have to "talk to the County." I said I would be doing that, and he went back to his hose. I got in my car and drove to work, fuming. I needed some yarrow bergamot sage tea right then.

I have written to the County about proposed housing developments around here and they assured me there weren't any under consideration at the present time. When I get home I will check the name of the contact person on that letter and give them a call. I may call Ducks Unlimited and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society as well. I thought wetland areas were automatically protected, and now it looks like that just isn't so. It makes me sad.

July 30 2008 Update: Last night I retrieved the letter I got from the County and have just now on my lunch hour called them to talk about my concerns. Of course the contact person referenced in the letter was gone until after the long weekend, and the Mayor, who's signature was on the letter, was gone too. I was able to leave a message with someone the the admin assistant said was the "Planning and Development Manager" so we will see if he calls me back. I managed to speak quickly enough to get in both concerns (land development, pond draining) before the answering machine cut me off....

Sharon tells it like it is....

Sharon at Casaubon's Book has written a most excellent post today! Her posts are brilliant on a regular basis, but this one is just....well, beyond phenomenal. Do check it out for yourself, especially if you've been wondering what all this peak oil stuff is all about, and even more so if you've been avoiding checking into what this peak oil stuff is all about....

Edited to add: and if you're ready, head over to Daharja's site and see what she and her family have been doing to prepare for this whole peak oil thing....

Canadian Lakes being Made into Toxic Waste Dumps!

Updated below with link to the letter I faxed June 21, 2008....

My fellow Canadian blogger over at Unstuffed posted about this today, and I am so mad I could scream! The Harper government has quietly been making Canadian lakes into tailing 'ponds' for mining operations, thereby saving the mining companies from building their own containment 'ponds.' The government just re-classifies the lake into a non-lake, with the stroke of a pen, and suddenly toxic heavy metal sludge is being poured into Canadian lakes from coast to coast to coast.

How DARE the government take a living, breathing ecosystem and kill it so the mining companies can save some money! The toxins will seep into the ground water and be consumed by humans and by the animals that drink the surface water. Humans and animals and plants alike will all be poisoned in the name of bigger profits for mining corporations and bigger corporate donations to the Conservative Party of Canada.

We can't just sit around and take this garbage anymore people! Clean water supplies are not unlimited. Clean water is a human right and part of the public commons, and we are allowing it to be poisoned! All the better for the private water companies to come in later and sell us back what should never have been taken and sullied in the first place. And how good is a job in a mine in your home town when you can't drink the water in your home town because the whole watershed's been contaminated? And you can't just boil the water to make it safe again.

Please, if you live anywhere a Canadian river flows in or out of, call or write your elected officials and let them know that this is absolutely unacceptable, a crime against nature and every living thing. You can get a start on your letter here. Canadians, don't let this one go - pick up your pen and write! It just doesn't get any more basic than water. When will we ever learn.

I am so embarrassed to have this government represent Canadians to the world - it is absolutely sickening. Come on Mr. Dion, bring this government down already!

Picture of lake downstream from one about to be toxified courtesy the above-noted CBC article.

Update: to see the letter I just faxed to the Fisheries and Environment Ministers, click here

Canadian Film: "Be The Change"

I wanted to help spread the word about this film by David Chernushenko, Canadian filmmaker and environmentalist (among other things). Its full title is: Be The Change - Living Lightly and Loving It.

It's not a doom and gloom film, but rather one that is a "celebration of the human spirit" and shows how living sustainably is a rewarding way to be and to act. According to the website, the film was even made locally to the film maker's Ottawa home base, and bus and bike directions are given to the film's premiere in Ottawa, this coming Friday, June 2oth. The trailer for the film is encouraging, not despairing, and fits well with what a bunch of bloggers have been talking about lately -- that people want to be part of something joyous and uplifting, not a movement that only talks about sacrifice, hardship and guilt.

Have you had a joyful moment related to sustainability recently? One that comes to mind for me was when I used my mesh produce bags at the grocery store and the teen-aged bag-person said, "Hey, that's cool." Tasting my home-grown kale in my noodle stir-fry yesterday was also pretty darn good!

Action or "Action"?

Daharja has an excellent post over at Cluttercut in which she talks about the 350.org website, which is, from what I can tell, a site trying to build awareness of the importance of reducing our carbon emissions until there are only 350 parts per million in the atmosphere. The old goal was 450, but newer research points to 350 being the target we need to reach in order to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Daharja is incensed, and rightly so I would say, about the fact that you're never going to inspire anyone to change their actions in the direction needed by merely focusing on a raising awareness of a number. And I'm pretty sure Kiashu at Green with Gun would classify the whole endeavor as glorified slacktivism (maybe not even glorified). Here's a quote from the "Take Action" portion of the 350.org website:

What we need most right now are your actions that take the number 350 and drive it home: in art, in music, in political demonstrations, in any other way you can imagine.

I have to disagree. I'd say what we need most right now are actions that directly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are being emitted into the atmosphere. Actions like those the Riot for Austerity people are undertaking, or a One Tonne Lifestyle that Kiashu describes. I don't think that paintings of the number 350 are going to cut it, or protest songs for that matter, even if they're sung by U2.

This got me thinking to what the word "action" has come to mean. This dictionary defines action in a number of ways, but all the definitions have something to do with physical movement directed toward a specific purpose. But more and more, I've noticed that "action" seems to have come to refer to things that don't involve a lot of physical movement or energy, such as joining a facebook group or, or forwarding an email, or signing an online petition. And a lot of this so called "action" is diffuse in purpose as well.

I hear of kids who want to be video game designers when they grow up and I keep thinking to myself, but will you actually be able to DO anything? And before I get too sanctimonious, I remind myself that writing letters to my elected representatives doesn't take a lot of physical activity either, nor does blogging, nor does turning off my house lights for an hour at a specified time. Some of these things are relatively harmless, even if they aren't necessarily effective, but surely the time spent at most of them could be better spent doing things that would really qualify as action towards reducing greenhouse gases, such as buying less stuff, growing our own food, planting more trees, driving less, eating less, hauling out that old bicycle and riding it, conserving water, composting, refraining from turning on the air conditioner or fan, etc.

How do we get people who are used to "action," back in the habit of concrete and direct action again? The knuckle-down-and-get-it-done-even-if- it's-hard kind of action? The get-your-hands-dirty-kind-of-action? Daharja says that only the things we love will inspire people to real and right action. I have to agree.

What do you love? What inspires you to do things differently even though it's hard to change the habits of a lifetime? I'm in the middle of thinking through these questions for myself, as I also learn to go from "action" to action.

Picture courtesy this Flickr site

Be it resolved....

This weekend I'm not going to be able to be outside as much as I'd like, because I have a union meeting to go to in a semi-distant city. This irked me at first, because I love my weekends. I love being outside in the yard if I can -- it's a necessary antidote to the regularly stressful, inside job I have all week long.

But then I remembered that part of this weekend's meeting is to submit proposed resolutions which will then be put to a vote by our membership at our convention in the Fall. Our union represents all the direct employees of the Alberta government and tons of people in assorted health care and educational jobs. It represents over 64 000 of us, from clerical staff, to jail guards, to nurses, to park wardens, to school custodians, to social workers and psychologists, to extended care workers. We are quite a diverse group. And so I thought, what an opportunity to bring something into the awareness of such a large group of people all at once!

So this is my draft resolution proposal:

Whereas AUPE is an organization dedicated to the fair and just treatment of its workers, and whereas AUPE also has a strong interest in human rights and equity among all workers, regardless of trade union membership, be it resolved that:

AUPE staff and members use organically produced, fair trade coffee, tea and cocoa products at AUPE headquarters and at all AUPE functions, and that AUPE encourages the use of fair trade products at the facilities it patronizes on a regular basis (e.g., hotels, conference centres, restaurants, caterers, etc.).

We'll see how this goes over at the meeting, and if the wording gets stronger or weaker in order to be approved for submission to the convention....

Alberta town moves to ban styrofoam

I didn't do anything particularly special for Earth Day today, but the Alberta town of Turner Valley sure did -- their council members voted unanimously to ban the use of styrofoam in their town:

Garry Pollock, the councillor championing the ban, said Monday night's decision was historic.

"We're excited because oil and gas [in Alberta] is first recognized to be discovered here in Turner Valley," he said. "It's nice to be on board on Earth Day to be the first in Alberta and in Canada to look at the prohibition of Styrofoam."

It's great to see individuals, small groups and municipal governments leading the way with measures like these. Maybe one day the provincial and federal governments will also wake up and realize that things need to change. My cynical self says that they will somehow manage to take credit for all the work done so far, but I suppose I shouldn't let that bother me. It just matters that it gets done, not who gets the credit:

Tao Te Ching Chapter 77:

As it acts in the world, the Tao
is like the bending of a bow.
The top is bent downward;
the bottom is bent up.
It adjusts excess and deficiency
so that there is perfect balance.
It takes from what is too much
and gives to what isn't enough.

Those who try to control,
who use force to protect their power,
go against the direction of the Tao.
They take from those who don't have enough
and give to those who have far too much.

The Master can keep giving
because there is no end to her wealth.
She acts without expectation,
succeeds without taking credit,
and doesn't think that she is better
than anyone else.

Translation courtesy S. Mitchell

We're going to the Earth Day Festival!

UPDATE: We're not going to the festival today, due to the amount of snow that fell overnight and the very poor road conditions. It's -10C right now, with windchill it's -19C. About six inches of snow has fallen. We're disappointed, but relieved not to have to go out into the snowstorm. Our tai chi instructor said that they won't be doing any demonstrations anyway, since they expect no one to be there except the vendors.
____________

April 22nd is designated as Earth Day around the world. In Edmonton this year, the Earth Day festival is being held today, and both Gord and I are going. Our tai chi club puts on a demonstration there, and we are going to participate in the mid-afternoon. It will be interesting, because it is supposed to snow some more again today. That will make for some chilly tai chi!

I went to this festival by myself last year because Gord was away, and I'm looking forward to going together this year so we can both look at all the neat displays and and listen to some live music. Last year I was still a bit of a chicken and didn't look at too many of the displays or ask many questions, but this year I plan on changing that. There was a solar hot water heater vendor there that I especially want to ask some questions of this year. Plus there is some really tasty food available from some local producers and restaurants that I would like to try. It's still Buy Nothing month though, so I won't be buying anything other than food while I'm there. We'll be bringing our own stainless steel water bottle, thermal mugs and cutlery too (specifically, our bamboo sporks), so we don't need to use any disposable cups or cutlery. I don't have any non-breakable plates to bring...hmmm, I do have some reusable plastic bowls though....

We will be taking public transit as much as we can as well. We still have to drive for about half an hour before getting to the light rail transit station, but from there we will take the LRT train to where it connects with the free diesel hybrid shuttle bus that will take us to the festival site itself, Hawrelak Park.

It should be a fun day!

Earth Hour Tomorrow!

Just a reminder that Earth Hour is tomorrow, from 8 to 9 pm your local time. I found out yesterday that my home town of Fort Saskachewan will be participating, which is very neat!

Not everyone agrees* that gestures like these make any real difference, or cause any long term habit changes, but I'm going to be radically optimistic and say that it sure can't hurt, and that you never know what small action will be the catalyst for bigger action!

*See comments

Earth Hour 2008

I have signed up for Earth Hour 2008!

On March 31st, 2007, Sydney, Australia turned its lights off for one hour. Over two million Australians turned off their lights, along with 2100 businesses. The project had aimed for a 5% reduction in energy use during that hour - they got over a 10% reduction, the equivalent of taking 48000 cars off the road for a year!

It is often asked, What can just one person do in the face of global climate change to make a difference? Why bother trying when what I do isn't even a drop in the bucket? The thing is, drops add up into rivers, and snowflakes add up into avalanches. No, I can't do everything, but I can do something! The people in Sidney knew this, and their Earth Hour 2007 demonstrated that small actions done by many people can have a huge collective effect.

Earth Hour 2008 is a global event, being held on Saturday, March 29th, at 8 pm your local time. Particpants are asked to do just one thing: turn their lights off for sixty minutes. Imagine how much we could reduce global carbon emissions by just this one simple action! What if, this year, ten times as many people, 22 million, turned their lights off for an hour. That would mean that in the course of that hour, we would take the equvalent of nearly half a million cars off the road for one year. I can almost hear the planet sighing in relief at the prospect.

Now, imagine this: the people who turn their lights off for an hour on March 29th, decide to do the same once a week from now on. Then they figure they can turn the TV and computer off too, for an extra hour a week, and maybe don't need to leave the water on when they brush their teeth. Maybe a child or teenager will decide to make water and wildspace conservation their life's work, or an adult will stand up to the property "developer" trying to pave over the community green space. Imagine!

Events like Earth Hour and Earth Day could be seen as symbolic at best, or as gimmicky and shallow at worst. But I don't think so. As more and more of these kinds of events occur, it won't seem weird to be "green" anymore. Some people may not go beyond changing their behavior more than intermittently, but others could have a 'eureka' moment where their world view changes forever. If anyone had told me 5 years ago that I would be a vegetarian who flushes her toilet with greywater from the shower, I wouldn't have believed them. But it only takes something small to change your outlook forever. Who knows what big changes could come from some small action during Earth Hour 2008!

If you would like to join in this event, you can sign up here. Then, get ready to flick that switch to "off" at 8 pm on Saturday, March 29th!

Picture courtesy this guy's photo album.