Switching Team

San Francisco plans hour of darkness for October

Posted at 12:13 PM on 19 Sep 2007

If you'll be in San Francisco between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, be sure to have a candle handy. Green group Lights Out San Francisco is encouraging residents to turn off all unnecessary lights during that hour to raise awareness of energy use. Nate Tyler, a former Google spokesperson who is spearheading the campaign, was inspired by a trip to Sydney during its annual light-extinguishing Earth Hour in March; he has printed up "Good Things Happen in the Dark" T-shirts and plans to give away 110,000 energy-efficient bulbs on the day of darkness. Just imagine: Without light pollution from homes, car-lot floodlights, movie marquees, and high-rises, San Franciscans will be able to take out their telescopes and have a nice clear view of the fog.

sources: Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle
see also, in Grist: S.F. and Sydney on a list of 15 green cities

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Comments: (1 comment)

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Don't stop there though

A good start. A welcome signal. I hope there will be A LOT of talk about the fact that it won't be enough to just reduce energy consumption for lighting in the house. Even if North Americans begin not using lights anymore at all, it would not be enough. We need to understand this and we need to spread this message.

In addition handing out CFLs, how about handing out laundry line for air-drying your laundry? How about attempting a Guinness Book Of Records for the longest laundry line in the world? How about giving away free public transportation passes? How about painting bike lanes on the road without asking for permission? How about encouraging businesses leaders to adjust their dress codes so that air-conditioning requirements can be reduced or even limited? How about giving away free birth-control or, even better, discounts on vasectomies? How about free veggie burgers or at least organic meat with a message? How about giving away wool hats with the message "Turn down the Heat!"? How about warm water bottles with the message "Heat your bed - not the planet!".

So much to do.

I hope the T-shirts are made from organic cotton.

Karsten
http://www.polluteless.com

by PolluteLessDotCom at 12:11 PM on 20 Sep 2007

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