Participated in by Some…

Posted on March 30, 2008, by Harvey Kirkpatrick 
Filed Under Environment, Events

Lights Out
So last night was Earth Hour, and after I turned off all my lights and computers, I took a twilight stroll downtown to gauge the results. I must admit that I was pretty disappointed with some of the local merchants who kept their signage brightly lit, especially those who weren’t even open for business. I mean, if the Golden Arches can be turned off for an evening, I don’t think it’s a stretch for Scotia Bank, Very Sherri and numerous others to dim their lights for an hour. Restaurants including the Chien Noir and Atomica were quite dark, with an ample amount of candle light setting the mood inside. This was also the case inside Second Cup, however Starbucks was lit brighter than the sun. As promised the City turned off all the street lights on Princess Street, and City Hall could only be seen in the shadows. When I approached Market Square, I came across a group of folks congregated around an NDP banner, talking about the significance of Earth Hour, sustainable energy and the importance of making Kingston a greener place to live. On that note, walking to and from the downtown was amazingly dark, which is a good sign that Earth Hour was supported by many households.

With any luck this event will grow next year, with more and more people taking the time to switch off. Be sure to check out the Kingstonist YouTube Channel for a few of the dark videos I took while wandering around last night. To give you a better idea of the scene, there are also some decent Earth Hour pictures on the Kingstonist Flickr page.

Comments

One Response to “Participated in by Some…”

  1. wooby on March 31st, 2008 11:05 am

    I agree about the luke-warm response to Earth Hour. I went out for a drive around Kingston to see how many lights were actually out. Then I realized that I was driving around, emitting all sorts of greenhouse gases unnecessarily, just so I could how many people weren’t doing their part to save the environment.

    The intentions are noble, but it’s definitely going to take a while for clods like me to get our heads around eco-responsible behaviour.

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