Earth Hour 2011

A few weeks ago, we had a discussion in class about how different our lifes would be without fossil fuels and I think that we pretty much came to the conclusion that they would  be almost unrecognisable compared to the lifestyles that we all currently lead. It is extremely hard to think how, life as we know it, would function without the use of fossil fuels and the transition to this way of life, which is perhaps inevitable, is likely to be a gradual one - well as slow as  man kind can force it to be! A life without fossil fuels, at present, maybe practically impossible but do you think you could survive without electricity for just 1 hour of the 8766 that make up a year?

Earth Hour, which is now into its fifth year, has previously involved 128 countries, 89 capitals and 9 out of the world's 10 biggest cities turning off all lights and non-essential appliances for 60 minutes. Earth Hour takes place tomorrow evening between 8:30pm - 9:30pm (local time) across the globe and, although this will not have a significant impact on actual energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions, it is hoped that it will raise awareness of the many issues surrounding our current energy supply and consumption patterns, whilst being a symbolic show of support against climate change and energy conservation. Here are some pictures, from around the world, of previous Earth Hours...........

This is a picture of the illuminated sky scrapers that stretch up high into the skies around Hong Kong but during Earth Hour (2009) the scene looks rather different.............

In Hong Kong, during the 2009 Earth Hour, over 1700 buildings switched off all lighting and essential appliances



Like demonstrated in this photo, Malaysia's iconic Petronas Towers, can normally be seen for miles and miles......

.... but after switching off all non-essential appliances during an Earth Hour, in a statement against global warming, the towers start to blend into the surroundings.

So, do you think you can survive without electricity for 60 minutes? If I remember and can persuade my family to participate (that should be interesting!) I will try to do it. My intial thoughts are that it can't be that hard but I will just have to wait and see. Afterwards I will write a post about how I got on and if I think I could go for longer without using electricity. If any of you try it, let me know how you  get on............... surely if we can't last 60 minutes without electricity we have no hope for sustaining a life without fossil fuels.