Earth Hour 2013

Tonight between the hours of 8:30 pm- 9:30 pm we are asked to turn off our lights, computers, electronics and TV's for one hour to symbolically show our commitment to an environmentally sustainable world. How you participate is up to you and obviously safety is paramount.

Here are some of my suggestions for a safe Earth Hour:

• Use battery operated candles or lanterns if you have kids, pets or use oxygen.
• Check for tripping hazards like throw rugs, papers, shoes or toys.
• Use the lights on stairs or halls.
• Use common sense and only turn off lights or electronics you don't need (ie. clock radios). 
• Keep flashlights handy.
• Don't use regular candles around kids, pets, curtains, paper, open windows, or flammable gases or liquids. 
• Make sure you put all candles out before bed.
• Never leave a candle unattended.
• You can open the blinds to let in some light from the street lamps - it's amazing how much light they give off and gets into the house.

This year my husband and I are going to be turning off all the lights except for the bathroom, tuning off the computers, including my cell phone, and lighting candles for the first time since we don't have cats anymore. We'll probably still be watching TV because the best shows seem to be on at that time, we don't have a PVR and we tend to go to bed early. With the candles our safety measures are going to be the obvious ones like keeping them away from curtains and other flammable stuff. I'm also going to be placing them away from any route that the husband is going to take just in case he runs into the table with his walker and knocks them over - he's kind of like a moth being attracted to lights, if there's something that is not in his way but on his route he seems to like to run it over. I'm also going to be checking the floor for tripping hazards that we don't pay much attention to because in the light we can avoid them such as blankets hanging off the sofa and the newspaper recycling pile. I guess you could say that other than using the candles were just going to have a regular night. I'm hoping that next year I can persuade the husband that we don't need to watch TV.

What will you be doing for Earth Hour?