28 March
Why is Google black today?
Apparently Google have put the lights out to help spread the word about ‘Earth Hour’.
Tonight between 8 and 9pm you are encouraged to participate in this world wide event and turn your lights out. Wanting to find out more I tried to get to the Earth Hour website but it’s unavailable. Looks like they’ve turned it off to save energy or something.
Anyway, the main thing is that by turning off your electricity you will be doing something and this will be appreciated by somebody somewhere else. It will send a pretty clear warning to the Chinese that if they don’t get their act together we might turn our lights off again. Probably sometime in the summer when it’s easier to see after dark.
Some people are worried that sitting without lights, TV or microwave for an hour to save energy could be boring, but I would encourage them to get in their cars and go for a drive, see what’s going on. Perhaps go down to the local Chinese restaurant and encourage them to turn those wasteful ovens and gas hobs off. Then possibly a visit to the hospital to see how they are coping in Accident and Emergency without electricity. You could even turn a few things off yourself whilst you’re there to encourage them.
It’s all about encouragement.