Good thing everyone didn't participate or at 9PM when all the lights came back on it would have blown the electrical grid.

And you New Zealanders…shame! Think of the water you would have saved. Now all that water you wasted by not turning off your lights is gonna evaporate, cause greenhouse effect, high humidity and womens hair to lose it's curl and go straight!

Oh the humanities!

Do'nt get me wrong – turn all the stupid outdoor lights off. Get rid of the light domes. Save the energy! Scare the urban youth back into their homes with simple darkness. Most urban dwellers know not what true darkness is and, at least the teenagers who went to my wifes camp in the middle of nowhere, turned into whining babies when the sun set and the crickets and owls started scaring the daylights out of them.

But let me put forth this criticism: What if instead of striving for one hour of unified action, we each took *individual responsibility* for our own actions every single hour of every single day?

Sure it *feels* great to stand up with a crowd, march tall and strong together… but feeling good isn't what we need here. We need real change, and that isn't going to happen overnight, or in one hour. It happens every day of the rest of your life.

I had lights on during this hour – I make my living in part as a photographer, and I was involved in a photoshoot all evening. Does this make me a bad person because I didn't jump on a bandwagon to be "unified" with the rest of the world?

But let me tell you a few more things: I carpooled to this photoshoot. We use digital cameras which don't waste plastic and silver as with conventional photography. I don't own a car and use public transit as much as possible. I buy very little packaging and compost my food waste. Most of the food I buy is produced locally, and I also garden to supplement this. By gardening organically and with cover crops, I am also returning carbon to the soil and providing habitat for wild bees and other pollinators. And the lights? I just counted – I have 18 lights in my house, and most of them are off most of the time.

So sure, I don't feel "unity" with the rest of the human species, but I don't want to! I don't see how a herd mentality is going to help us improve our environment. While the rest of the herd is busy patting themselves on the back for their one hour of triumph, I will be out working in my garden.

Oh, and if you light a candle for tomorrow, make sure it's beeswax, or you might be putting lead and benzene into the air. And while you're at it, make sure it's organic beeswax, or you might be contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder.

What I do know is that we took part in Earth Hour at the Observatory on Saturday night. I did not do so to plug any groups, nor did I invite politics into the situation. What happened was we had a group of scouts present for a program. By giving the program by candlelight, we planted the seeds for future generations. We didn't hug any trees. We didn't discuss government. We actually didn't discuss global warming, either. We only shared that we cared enough to support change… and to support the efforts of our brothers and sisters around the world. Tomorrow's future adults were before us… Should we have invited them to read some of the UT comments? Or just quietly lit a few candles and allowed them to make their own decisions about how tomorrow should be?

Although supporting Earth Hour did not cause the beautiful aurora we all witnessed, I'd certainly like to think that less light pollution added to our ability to see it.

Light a candle for tomorrow… And hope that it provides enough light to allow the blind to see that the future is in our hands.

Everywhere I turn the "green" agenda is being stuffed down my throat as established fact. There is some science behind parts of it, but it’s hardly a closed case. Most of what I see is just feel good hype promoted by people who have little or no clue about scientific principles but are never-the-less compelled to ‘raise awareness’ in the rest of us until we go along with their feelings. A lot of the ‘green’ movement looks to me to like a bunch of people who either want to sell me something or regulate my life in order to enlighten me about how to live ‘correctly’.

This email/forum usually includes info about space, astronomy, etc. Just because the politics of the save the earth movement include the word ‘earth’, ‘globe’ or ‘planet’ in their mantra do not make this a relevant topic for inclusion in this forum. I subscribe to Universe Today to find out about what’s going on in space. I don’t expect you to spam me with political activism.

http://astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=NightSky&thread=1206899421

I had hoped for some darkening of the sky and perhaps have more stars pop out, but it wasn't the case.

I do appreciate the symbolic gesture and perhaps next year Chicago will do a better job.

5 % is 5% and a start.

Southern African cities turn off the lights (and all other power) regularly, daily in fact.

Not for any cause, but for the simple reason that we do not have enough power for everyone.

Power-rationing and load-shedding will continue for the next 5 years, beat that!

Gimme a break, please.

All Earth Hour is intended to do is to in to bring awareness about climate change and that individuals are concerned about their rapidly warming planet. Power consumption drop merely by 15% in Sydney, Australia – a drop in the ocean in regards alleged power saving. However, it did made people aware of this looming crisis, and that humans have the responsibility to take care of their planet and their own backyard.

What I find most worrying is the utter contempt by several in this forum, especially ones like Ken B. who pretends switching his lights on just to spite those with a small glimmer of hope that the world will not change for the worse – even in the slim or slenderest hope that climate change is not happening.
Why is it that countries like the United States of America, have for the last century or so continue to consume 40% of the world resources (energy and material) when they only have 6% of the world's population?
In Australia, like the U.S., until very recently adopted a "head in the sand attitude", avoiding their own responsibilities in curbing their excess forced on an contemptuous world. Instead, the media and the population of Sydney decided to express their concerns in a symbolic way – and in the process had a little fun with it – hoping to say we care for our planet.
The best thing with Earth Hour in Sydney was people went outside and saw the difference individuals collectively could make. It actually showed there is hope for all our futures.

After all this good old Earth is in YOUR gentle hands!

Note: All I had was a candlelight supper with my girl and enjoying each other's company. It was civilised and fun, and something we should do more often,

I also agree with Tammy that it is the unity of the people of the earth in doing just 60 minutes that are the steps towards a more "green planet". We are a species that has a great need to change our attitude to the fact that we are changing the earth in a negative way.
We ARE being affected now by our negetive impact on the earth, but will our children and grandchildren thank us if we continue this way.

Like many of you, I study science and I have my own personal opinions on the climate issues. I don't hop aboard every bandwagon that comes along and start beating a drum just because I can.

There is more to the thought behind Earth Hour than just the issues it represents. To me, this is a way that humankind can express its desire for change without the barrier of language, governments, politics or… personal opinions. Don't you think, for just one second, that our unity is a huge wake-up call?

This one hour in the huge sea of time – Earth Hour – is a way of expressing ourselves as human beings. No government is telling us we have to turn 'em off. No army is standing there with guns waiting to shoot us if we don't.

By learning to unify as a species, change can then occur. If we discover it's not something we're doing, then we'll look for ways to change what is – or learn to adapt. If we're going to change our world, then we can't look to others to make the changes for us.

A symphony starts with one note…

Could there be some real initiative about promoting nuclear and/or renewable sources, instead of this "earth hour" waste of time?

So, educate people, instead of doing purposeless shows like the "earth hour". The earth hour will just make a lot of people feel less guilty for a bit, and then go on as usual.

Making people stop and think.

People won't stop and think. People will just think "omg cool", and then continue their life as before.

I never have room for negative criticism in my life, and to be honest, I think it is just needless

Your assertion is self-contradicting. You are just negatively criticizing negative criticism.

I do agree with devicerandom, let's promote nuclear energy and get rid of coal. Coal is dirty and does cause real contamination of the environment that's not talked about because everyone is so worried about climate change.

Spending one hour to promote the use of safe, nuclear energy instead of fossil fuels would probably be much more useful.