Earth Hour

No doubt you know that tonight at 8:30 until 9:30 it is Earth Hour, in which people around the world are encouraged to turn off their electricity (as much as is possible) in order to show that they care about the planet. It is one way in which we can promote awareness of our dependence on electricity, and perhaps find a way to take it less for granted.

Cynics may say that it is too small a gesture to make any difference, and may even claim it is dangerous for people to light candles in their homes. Sadly, they miss the point.

Earth Hour is an opportunity to unglue ourselves from screen activity, see the stars clearer than usual, and reunite with out families. Aside from a small amount of energy savings, there are things to be gained here. We are increasingly becoming isolated by our use of gadgets and our departure from face-to-face communications. We are easily distracted by the shiny, loud and flashy aspects of our environment at the expense of meaningful listening, which is the most important part of communication.

So this year, instead of shrugging it off, it is my hope that people, including myself, will take the opportunity to reconnect with families and nature. Enjoy the quiet that comes with throwing the circuit breaker. If you are concerned about power surges, then wait a little longer to turn your power back on, and do it an item at a time. Remember, if the utilities could cope with the surges that came surrounding the Olympic hockey game, they will cope with this too.

We intend to go for a walk and hopefully do some stargazing. In Toronto, the Ontario Science Centre is bringing out telescopes for public use tonight.

Being Green

Tomorrow is Earth Hour day. While I believe it is not nearly enough, and is merely a token gesture, I can appreciate anything that in any way promotes respect for the planet. So often we get hung up in our own personal lives that we forget that we are only part of the larger system--earth's ecosystem--and that we need to respect that system if we are to ensure a decent future for our children.

We make it easy on ourselves--we throw the main house circuit breaker. There is an incredible silence that comes from doing so. Last year I remember thinking that we, as a family, should do this on a more regular basis, but I've only just remembered that thought again now. Perhaps by posting it here I'll actually do it this time! I guess that's another good reason to have a designated time for shutting off the power.

Earth Day is also coming up later on in April. Common activities include tree planting and creek/rive/lake/beach/park cleanups. We actually do any tree planting in the fall because we've had better success at that time of year.

I read once that it takes an average of 80 trees per person to offset our carbon dioxide emissions. I believe that just counts breathing, but since the number is something I saw "somewhere" many moons ago, I'm not really sure what it takes into consideration.
Regardless of its accuracy, the act of planting trees has to be one of the single-most earth-friendly things we can do. About the only thing better that I can think of is to let little tree seedlings that randomly fall grow where they fall, as long as it isn't in a place that will cause problems (like under hydro wires, for example). At our last house, we let the seedlings that fell near our fence line grow and ended up with several beautiful trees including a beech, three maples and an ash. The ones that grew naturally like this grew much faster than the ones we planted.
We have a local program in which the municipality subsidizes the purchase of native tree and shrub species to be grown for house shading purposes. We have planted several shrubs through this program. The energy savings that can come from shade trees is substantial--in our last home, we had no air conditioning, and didn't need it because we were so well shaded.
Planting deciduous trees on the south and west sides of the house (this lets sunshine in during the winter and gives shade in the summer) and conifers on the north and east (to protect from winter winds) allows for the best seasonal effects in the northern hemisphere.

In a similar vein, for a couple of years of veggie gardening, I found that the seeds that were in my compost tended to do better than many of the store-bought ones. I'd plant squash and beans and carrots, and I'd get beautiful cherry and plum tomatoes and cantaloupe. The third year we planted veggies, I only used seeds I'd saved plus those that were in the compost. It was an eclectic garden, but much more interesting than the usual rows of same-type plants. The kids really got into it, becoming veggie detectives in trying to figure out what each plant would be. It also gave me an excuse to weed less, "just in case" we accidentally pulled something we'd later want. I've never liked weeding (always feels like plant species discrimination to me) so this suited me just fine.

I am very pleased that this year I found organic carrot seeds spaced out on planting tape. I hate the idea of "thinning" plants by killing the ones that are too close together, so I have painstakingly planted them one seed at a time using tweezers in the past. Yes, I'm that kind of person! Now I won't have to do that. I've never been able to save carrot seeds, although I have had success saving many other seeds.

Now I'm going to have to find all the seeds I saved before the move!
Lemonade page about saving seeds
Lemonade page about saving energy