- Start early. Switch off before the sun sets and soak up the twilight.
- Go for a walk and see what the neighbours have switched off.
- Or turn on all the lights in every room and see how long it takes before someone knocks on your door.
- At which point, you can host an Earth Hour Party: BYO (beeswax!) candle and no plastic cups.
- One word: Fondue! You get a great meal, no electricity required.
- Chill your wine outside.
- Hand-wash your delicates.
- Harness the combined romance of candlelight and eco-chivalry to pop the question.
- Dig out your clarinet, ocarina or guitar for an acoustic music night. Practise without looking at your hands.
- Debate whether one hour can trigger social change.
- Or just whistle in the dark.
- Recite memorized poetry.
- Avoid using anything that requires power. Including batteries.
- Throw an indoor marshmallow roast (use shish-kebab skewers, mini-marshmallows and a tea light).
- Go totally 18th-century and play charades by candlelight.
- Look for stars in the darker night sky, or moon dance.
- Read a book about the environment.
- Tell ghost stories. Go down to the basement in a negligee to investigate dark spooky corners.
- Build a fort out of cushions and blankets (don't take candles inside!).
- Bust out the Ouija board, host a séance.
- Dig out your Dungeons and Dragons dice for an atmospheric apocalyptic game.
- Don't be lame and watch television. You're only going to miss the Habs build a 4-0 lead over the Leafs.
- Prove to yourself that, yes, you can go 60 minutes without updating your Facebook status.
- Don't forget fitness. Practise naked yoga.
- Conserve water. Share a bath.
- Or go to bed early. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.
- Consider getting some help if the results of No. 26 only took one minute.
- Spin a globe to find your next holiday destination.
- Introduce "Avant-garde Art in the Dark" hour (with a large drop sheet to catch spills).
- Reject the idea, string yourself in Xmas lights, and walk around as a glowing sculpture.
- If it's warm, sit on the steps chatting to passersby and comparing notes on living green.
- Or say to your neighbour, "Dude, this is so Amish."
- Make streetlight shadow puppets (yes, the streetlights stay on, for safety).
- Install power bars with on-off switches so you can turn all electricals off at the source when not in use.
- Designate a weekly "no power hour" for your home.
- Calculate your annual gas bills. Gasp.
- Calculate your annual hydro bills. Gasp again. Plan ways to reduce your gas and hydro use.
- Curse the name of Thomas Edison and damn his tungsten-stained soul to hell.
- Play dress-up in the dark. Don't wear colour-co-ordinated clothes.
- If going out, do your makeup by candlelight. It's harder than it seems. Pretend it's eighties punk.
- Boycott venues that are still switched on.
- Marvel at an unlit Honest Ed's. Worry about the semi-lit airport.
- Join a lantern walk in Woodbridge.
- Catch the train south to watch Niagara Falls go dark for the first time since 2003.
- Boogie for the planet at the free acoustic concert featuring Nelly Furtado at Nathan Phillips Square.
- Play with sparklers. Take long-exposure photos of your efforts.
- Sit in a drumming circle around a candlelit shrine to David Suzuki.
- Wonder if, at that moment, Parisians are ashamed of their city's nickname.
- Then laugh at the thought.
- Soften your ice cream.
- Pretend you're in Haiti.
- Join glow-stick soccer games at the Hangar in Downsview Park.
- Master your origami skills.
- Invite your neighbours over for a game of Texas Hold 'em. Or scour your home for extraneous packaging you're holding onto and think of ways to reduce it.
- Put teabag compresses on your eyes.
- Take your date somewhere discreet and make out.
- Get busy (yes, again!) and procreate the next generation of resource-sucking bipeds.
- Start a pool on whether there will be a baby spike in nine months.
- Hark for sounds of fire engines (see: candle use).
- Why spoil the fun? Leave the lights out for the rest of the night.
Saturday’s Globe and Mail
March 29, 2008
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080328.wearth60things29/BNStory/National/home
Saturday, March 29, 2008
60 things to do during Earth Hour
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