Earth Hour - a Success?

Participating in Earth Hour has sparked some conversations recently with family and friends as we discussed the purpose of the event. The goal of the event was the get 1 billion people to participate by turning out their lights in an effort to send a message about global warming. Here is an article about Earth Hour 2009, as well as some photos of Earth Hour around the world.

Update: View photos from the event

So, what exactly is this suppose to accomplish?

Well, for one thing, events like Earth Hour give people around the world a way to band together and rally around action on global warming. For another, this year will be a big year for amendments to the Kyoto Protocol. Earth Hour serves as a super creative way to tell our international leaders they have global support. It helps give them 'political cover' for a more stringent agreement. Regardless of your thoughts about the effectiveness of the United Nations, it does provide an arena for international governance. Making big change starts with vision and leadership, and is carried out through policy change and action.

If you are curious about what exactly will be happening with the Kyoto Protocol, Here is the website for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. If you take a look at the agenda, you'll see a whole host of topics they are addressing including greenhouse gas emissions, land use, emission trading, potential impacts of sustainability, etc.

It was fun to participate in the Earth Hour event and know I was just one of hundreds of millions of people making a statement. I hope you participated, but if not, consider participating in an Earth Day event in your area.
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March Madness + Earth Hour = Basketball in the Dark

In the midst of our March Madness, there are some larger pressing issues going around the globe. And, no, I'm not talking about the economic crisis (geez, who wants to hear more about that?).

This Saturday, the good folks at WWF are trying to get 1 billion people around the globe to turn off the lights for an hour to send a message that we are concerned about global warming through their "Vote Earth" campaign.



The results of the Vote Earth Campaign will be presented at the Global Climate Change conference in Copenhagen later this year. According to the website, this meeting will help to drive official governmental policy that will address climate change and global warming. This new policy will replace the Kyoto Protocol.

This may coincide with March Madness, but don't let that stop you...

It's like midnight bowling or hide 'n seek in the dark. It's more exhilarating with the lights out! I won't even pretend that I'm not going to be watching my underdog picks to make sure my brackets don't fall apart. But I can make a statement and send a message while I enjoy the Sweet 16. Sign up to make your own impact: Earth Hour - Vote Earth!
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Recommended Reading

Looking for a good read for the spring? I highly recommend Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. It dives into a topic I had become increasingly curious about - our food system. Ever since the outbreak of salmonella in the spinach a couple of years ago, I've really made an effort to look for locally grown foods. Well, Omnivore's Dilemma is driving me to the Farmer's Market and organics. I have made an effort to buy organics and locally grown foods, but was okay if I needed something not grown locally. After reading this book, I am not sure I can go back to industrial agriculture. It will be difficult, but we're going to try...

Our food system is broken. We are consuming petroleum because of all the chemicals they use to grow our food, we're polluting the earth, and we're making ourselves fat because of how they process our foods. They have figured out how to deconstruct corn and make it into things that we just shouldn't be consuming. Then they're adding in all kinds of nasty chemicals and potential carcinogens that were never intended to be ingested.

Yes, I said 'they'. As in the same way conspiracy theorists use the word 'they'. Only this time, it's really smart people (food scientists) who can't help but come up with new ways to make our current food system run cheaper, and find more uses for corn. That's right, corn. And not the kind you like to eat at 4th of July celebrations. This is industrially processed, genetically modified, unedible corn grown en masse in order to feed the industrial system we've developed with the idea of making our food cheaper. Corn in your burger, corn in your potatoes, corn in your ketchup...we're practically made of corn!

Omnivore's Dilemma - It is giving us the motivation to follow through on eating healthier and being more aware of what we put in our bodies. I hope you find the same motivation to affect change in your life.
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Reality Check - The Results

Reality Check, a regional planning exercise sponsored by ULI Triangle and Triangle Tomorrow, was held on February 24th at the Convention Center in downtown Raleigh. On the 27th, approximately 450 people gathered to hear the results from the big event. The summit was an opportunity to hear from folks who have successfully led the effort to grow in a sustainable way in other cities, as well as a summation of all the tables from the exercise. And, to my delight, there were performances by local production company, DSI Comedy Theatre.

There were local and state government officials, business leaders, citizens, participants, facilitators, and municipal planners. While the Reality Check event itself is a 'think tank' type of exercise, we were dealing with issues that have significant long-term effects on the 15 county area of the Triangle. With 1.2 million people projected to move to this area, we have to make decisions now to plan for future growth. As one of the speakers commented, the growth of a region is directly related to transportation options. Remember that next time we have a referendum or other opportunity to vote for mass transportation funding.

At the results summit, all 30 tables from the Reality Check exercise were distilled down to four different categories. All four scenarios had growth planned out in various ways - ranging from sprawl to clustered development. Everyone was given an electronic voting device to provide instant feedback on the favored growth pattern, as well as other survey questions. A majority of people voted for the smart growth option, with the sprawl option coming in last place. It should be noted that all four examples highlighted at the Summit were much better than our current pattern. Everyone should be commended for their effort and attention to setting a vision for the region.

The takeaways from the day: 1. transportation is an integral part to smart growth, no matter how the growth is planned (80% of the tables listed transportation as a guiding principle for how they planned out the growth in their simulation), 2. 90% of people in the room voted to raise taxes to pay for alternate forms of transportation (yes, I said 90%!!), and 3. the biggest road blocks to growth are regional governance (read: leadership) and lack of infrastructure funding.

Any guesses as to how quickly our house and senate officials will draft a bill to fund the $8 billion light rail proposal by the Special Transit Advisory Commission? Will this effort be more successful than the dysfunctional plan proposed in 2004? Hopefully so - it is clear after this Reality Check event that mass transit is the critical component to a successful growth strategy.

And, for your comic relief, here is the video by the very talented DSI Comedy Theater. Reality Check Parody:

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