Global warming is the most serious issue facing every single living being on the planet today and as awareness increases, more and more communities are taking action to combat the continuing degradation of our planet's atmosphere.
Sydney, Australia demonstrated just how much of a difference one hour and one city can make last year when the residents turned off all of their lights for just 60 minutes.
How much of a difference? The amount is staggering when you consider how many cities there are on earth and how many hours in a day, month, year.
By turning off their lights for just 60 minutes, Sydney was able to stop 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the earth's atmosphere.
What began in Sydney, Australia, has now spread around the globe as more and more cities and communities join the 'EARTH HOUR' initiative in an effort to increase awareness of the tragic consequence mankind and it's advances have had upon the earth.
Earth Hour is scheduled for 8pm on March 29th and if your community has not pledged to take part yet, please ask yourselves and your mayor and news media 'Why not?'.
Helping your community to become part of this very important event is within your power and there are guidelines you can follow to ensure that your efforts will be successful.
This initiative speaks very loudly to governments worldwide that the time to wake up and take SERIOUS action is now. Tomorrow will be too late.
Many scientists believe we have already gone beyond the 'tipping' point and may not be able to stop the process we have so neglectfully begun.
Belleville and Quinte West, Ontario have commited to being a part of EARTH HOUR 2008 and on March 29th at 8pm, all residents and businesses will be turning off their lights for 60 minutes.
This initiative has now reached over 22 Canadian cities and hopefully, before March 29th arrives, all of Canada will have made the commitment.
What can we do in Ontario by committing to this challenge for one hour?
It remains to be seen and I hope that you, as a part of this earth we call home, our ONLY home, will commit to this now by recording it on your calendar and by telling all of your friends, family,
acquaintances and if you have a public platform, using it to speak out.
In Ontario the demand for electricity at 8 pm on March 29th, 2007 was 18,969 megawatts. This is a very significant portion of the 27,000 megawatts of power available in Ontario, 17.8 % of which is generated by the burning of coal.
Lights are a relatively small portion of the overall demand for electricity and make up approximately 15 % of the demand.
If just over 2 million people in Sydney, Australia were able to stop 25,000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere by turning out their lights for 60 minutes, how much can we as an entire globe stop?
In this urgent initiative, that will sweep the entire planet as each city turns off their lights at 8pm their local time, lays the seed that will raise awareness to a global level and possibly unite us all in our last chance to begin to take the struggling life of our only home to heart and commit to saving it.
If we each commit to effecting positive change now, I believe that anything is possible and we just may be able to return this planet to the clean, ecologically diverse and healthy garden it once was.
Changes You Can Implement:
- Calculate Your Carbon and Cash Savings
- Ten Things You Can Do To Help Curb Global Warming
- Calculate Your Impact on Global Warming
- Reduce Your Impact At Home
- Travel the Globe to See What's Going On
- 51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment
- Ontario EARTH HOUR updates and global news items, tips, and more
- Take Action! What Things Can You Do First?
©2008JoSmith
Jo-Anne Smith, B.Sc.
Sales Representative
Royal Lepage ProAlliance Realty, Brokerage
613-922-5978 Direct
613-966-6060 Office
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Jo-Anne Smith, the author of this article, is a REALTOR® with Your Choice Realty , Mississauga, Ontario and welcomes your real estate inquiries. To contact her, visit www.oakville-burlingtonhomes.com |
Jo...this is excellent work and what I believe is so important for us to use this powerful forum for. We have a voice to influence and make a difference. This is so compelling and powerful. Thank you for your work and you always inspire me to work harder and to use this precious resource responsibly. Great work you've been doing with your new group. I haven't had the time to go through the assignments, but I will follow up with them soon, even though they will not be in the numbers....they will benefit me greatly! Love and blessings for all you do!
Thank you for visiting this post, Jeanean and for your supportive and insightful comment.
It is my hope that you and all AR members will take the initiative to write about this very important event that will raise awareness in each country and speak loudly to our governments that we want action taken NOW.
Jo
Thank Missy, and I'm glad you're going to take part. Perhaps we can encourage all of our clients and everyone we know to also take part in this, one of the most important initiatives ever undertaken by the entire globe at one time.
Jo
Jo,
Respectfully, won't this just waste already valuable fossil fuel inasmuch as the turbines run by coal to generate electricity will still operate when we 'tune down'? I'm not a scientist, and do not profess to know how this complex electrical grid system works!!! JMHO, Thanks, Fran
Fran, If the power isn't being used, then it's not drawn.
This initiative is a wake-up call to show how just by turning out the lights for one hour, the enormous amounts of power that can be saved from being used. Less power being used, less coal being burned to produce the power.
If you visit some of the sites I've linked, you can learn more....particularly the
Ontario EARTH HOUR updates and global news items, tips, and more
one.
I know this is particularly dire in the USA since over 50 % of electricity in the USA is generated by the burning of coal. Here in Ontario only 17.8 % of our power comes from the burning of coal.
Jo
Jo
Why is it that no one takes this so seriously? This is not a need, but a must.
Some team work and everyone else on this planet would be better.
Sincerely
Tom Braatz
Tom,
I believe that not enough people have suffered yet due to the effects of global warming. As more and more tragedies increase, around the globe, everyone will be forced to wake up and take this seriously. Until then, people prefer to live their comfortable lives and pretend it's not happening.
It's strange but most of the environmental posts I write hardly get any comments. People just don't want to know this stuff because once they know, they have to change. Like stop eating so much meat, stop driving gas guzzlers, stop living in gigantic homes, stop taking so many trips all over the world, etc etc etc
It's sad, just really sad. And the saddest thing is what's coming unless people start taking this VERY seriously right now!
Jo
Hi Jo,
What a great idea to turn all the power off for 60 minutes. I do try as best I can not to leave a big carbon foot print. I am afraid of global warming and it seems our government does not seem to take it to seriously. This winter was one of the worst winters I can remember.
hi Trace!
I'm with you about having as small a carbon footprint as possible. When the government does not take this seriously, it's very hard for the public to as well, as they don't feel it's of any urgency. We are biological beings, however, and if we don't take it seriously, I'm afraid the earth is not so forgiving.
We'll be kept in check the same way any other animal species is and we may not like it, however the earth is the one ultimately in control. How easily we seem to forget that.
thanks for stopping by!
Jo
Hi Jo,
I totally agree with you. Look at all the superbugs and diseases that are out there now, that we never use to have.
Trace,
The superbugs are very frightening. I just read about a 16 yr old girl in Montreal in who has just given birth to a healthy baby boy and now she has developed flesh eating disease and is in a coma. They don't know how she got it, however they're thinking she may have been a carrier and giving birth allowed it to take hold of her system.
Jo