Random Acts of Living


Saturday, March 22, 2008

Turn Off Those Lights!

Here's something simple we all can do...

Earth Hour 2008
March 29


Just turn off all lights for One Hour.





A great way to take advantage of this one hour of darkness would be to dig out your telescopes and go look at some stars. I recall, years ago, the scientists at the large observatories complaining about all the light from earth causing a problem in viewing the stars. I don't know if this is still an issue with the newer equipment, but I know that lots of people that have grown up in or near large cities have never REALLY seen a starlit sky. I recall when some friends had their friends visiting from Kansas City. I will never forget the teenage girls reaction when she stepped outside into the starlit night. She could not believe what she was seeing, she carried on and on about how the sky looked (and this was even with the wash from small town street lights). I told them they needed to take her down to the river, which is a little distance out of town, and let her kick back and enjoy the stars from there. SOOO... in conclusion, check out 1 hour without lights and go enjoy some stars! Sign up HERE!

7 comments:

Anita said...

This is cool!
March 29th is the day that Greensburg GreenTown is holding our Green Day... I might have to bring this up!
Check out our Green Day:

http://tinyurl.com/ytl7lx

Moonshadow said...

Well that would be neat. Just as your celebration is finishing up you could turn out the lights and participate in Earth Hour 2008.

Anita said...

I have sent the link to the director... :)

Bob Johnson said...

Hey Moonshadow, our mall is participating in this venture, I'm responsible for ensuring what lights we can turn off for the hour are programmed off for that time.

You are right , nothing better then viewing the stars from a dark sky, I have to travel out of town 40 mins to do this, the city lights take so much away from the natural beauty. I don't know what if anything our city has planned, I would hope something, if even just a few lights turned off, give us back our night sky if only for 60 mins.

Moonshadow said...

For some reason it doesn't surprise me that you're personally involved in this movement. ; )

I'll never forget the night I was sitting outside with some of the kids and trying to show my youngest the big dipper. I finally grabbed a used envelope and a pen and drew dots then lines to show him what to look for. He exclaimed, "I see it, I see it. And there's another one and another one..." I don't know what "dots" he was connecting but he was finding dippers all over the night sky. LOL

Peter said...

Hi and Happy Easter to one and all from Downunder. Australia is also playing its part. So will we! I can't remember the last time I saw the sky free from light pollution. I hope everyone gets behind this great idea!

Take Care,
Peter

Moonshadow said...

Peter, I'm in a small town 32 miles from the nearest "big city". I can see their glow on the horizon at night. Our few streetlights wash out the sky a bit, but I can still see the constellations pretty well from out in my yard. It's just a short drive out of town to see even more stars. I can't imagine not seeing them. Hope you have good particiation and see a starry night.