COINTEST: Earth Hour

[ELTADA]

Since the very first Earth Hour (not sure the year), my husband and I have turned out our lights for one hour to support the conservation of energy and the conservation of our planet. Since that first Earth Hour, we also actively look for ways to conserve, recycle and reduce our carbon footprint where we can. We don't do much compared to some people but do our best and choose greener options whenever we can.

 

This year, Earth Hour is on March 27th from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm. For those unfamiliar with it, the residents of this wonderful planet are encouraged to turn off their lights and all other non-essential things around our home that use power (tv, computer, radio, etc.) for one hour. More information about it can be easily found by googling Earth Hour.

 

So down to the cointest...

 

There are three ways to enter this cointest.

 

1. Post your plans for Earth Hour this year. What will you be doing during that hour (keep it family friendly please!)? Please no one liners - I would like to see a thorough answer. Added background about whether you are familiar with Earth Hour and how popular it is in your home country is welcome.

 

2. Earth Hour is just once a year but a good reminder that we can do simple things to help conserve energy and help the planet. What are some of the things that you do year-round that you think is UNIQUE or INTERESTING that are good for the environment (you only have to post one to qualify)?

 

3. Post a picture of your Earth Hour activity here on the forum after the event (again, do I have to say family friendly??).

 

You can post once and edit it as much as you like up until the cointest deadline (Monday, March 29th at midnight EST). You can enter in one category or two categories or all three - it's up to you. If you answer one category, you get one chance in the coin drawing, two categories gets you two chances and all three categories gives you three chances to win.

 

I will not judge answers (as long as you follow the simple guidelines) and it will be a random drawing for the geocoin. And what is that coin you ask? Well, I have no idea. When the cointest is over, I will sift through my traders and randomly select one. It won't be anything too spectacular as I have traded most of my good keepers in the math trade. So don't enter this cointest if all you are looking for is a cool coin!

 

I will announce the winner on Tuesday, March 30th sometime during the day.

 

Good luck!

(post any questions you have in case I missed something)

[+DJ.J.ROCK]

I think this falls under #2. We are big on recycle, infact yesterday we went to the container store and used a gift card we got for christmas for 4 new bigger bins to put our cans, paper, plastic, and glass in. we cash in on the cans but the other 3 we take to a center that does the recycle of the stuff, we probably make 2-4 trips a month. Its not much but save the earth in landfill mass. Its a very easy way to make a difference. I wish more would do this. I myself, have some bins at work for the trash I pick up around the property. I do litter pick up for about am hour each day at work, when they get full we have one dumpster for recycle purpose. You would be susprized how much other peps litter , for an idea I usuall fill a 5 gallon bucket. 2-10 times a day and probably 90 percent of that is recycle able. That's a min of a 10 5 gallon buckets a week, and I belive that helps!!

[+Fianccetto]

I don't know what we will be doing...Should we let the kids sleep, or keep them up and play board games by candlelight? Have a night crafts competition (who can follow spoken instructions to make an origami animal, draw a picture or cut out shapes and stick them on?) Perhaps we could close all the curtains and have a picnic in the dark. We could drive to a nearby forest and take hot cocoa and a picnic and watch for foxes, badgers, wild boar, deer and bats. We keep meaning to do that so it is the most likely so far. What we'd really like to do is be at the centre of our town, watching as the lights all go off and be in a crowd with others singing by candlelight. That would be fun. As far as I know nothing has been organised, but I'll ask around.

 

Sorry, doesn't really fit any of your categories! Hope more people will join this thread and join in with Earth Hour. Even if you are skeptical about climate change, there are plenty of other good reasons to save energy and cut down on light pollution.

 

I first heard of Earth Hour a year or two ago from Canadian cousins on facebook. By then it was 9pm, so we had an Earth half - hour! This year, not sure, I don't know anyone else around here doing anything, but looking at the UK website it is growing and seems particularly big in Yorkshire.

[+rising.sun]

Earth Hour falls on my older daughter, Madeleine's, 10th birthday. I am sure there will be a PAR-TAY planned for her big day that afternoon, but to celebrate Earth Hour from 8:30 to 9:30 PM, I suspect we will attempt to pull out the 8" Dobsonian telescope she received for a birthday present 2 years ago and set it up on the deck to take a peek at her favorite object in the sky, Orion's Great Nebula. As you might expect, the darker it is, the better your eyes adjust for seeing stars, etc. So I can guarantee lights will all be out. As long as it's not cloudy (good chance it will be fine here in AZ), it sounds like a great way for her to end her birthday (although winning a special geocoin just might please her as well!)

Edited March 15, 2010 by rising.sun

[+GATOULIS]

Earth hour! the last years I was celebrating it... a little different.... becasue it was not on March 27 but on March 28... which is my birthday!

 

I am wondering why this year they put it a day before...

 

Anyway....

 

Let's see...

 

1) I really do not know 100% what to do at that time! there are many things that depend on that!

 

a) Weather.... if the weather is bad and it is raining I will be watching the rain and the thunders from my window! I love that! I might call my girlfriend too and talk... I hope that is ok with the Earth hour!

 

If the weather is good and the sky is clean, and since it will be night, I will take my telescope and go to the roof to watch the stars, moon, planets... If many will follow earth hour... it will be great to watch the stars! I might call my girlfriend too! I know...

Isn't it romantic if both we are watching the moon at the same time? Since we can not be together... at least we can do something together... watch the same thing and free our minds so our spirits can be together...

 

c) if my girlfriend is here....well... I do not think so... she was coming at my birthday and actually she was taking some days off and we were spending my birthday together! Of course... my birthday was not on Sunday... So.. we were in a cafeteria or a romantic bar, or in a tavern.. and... we were holding hands, lookeach other in eyes... under the light or a candle... it is impossible for this year! I will miss that.... So... the phones will be on fire! That's for sure!

 

2) What I do for earth...Well.. I try not to spend a lot of energy, electrisity etc! for example.... we have a water heater that takes power from the sun light! we use electrisity in it only f there is no sunlight at all!!!

 

We do not have an air condition (with an exception in the living room) in all rooms! I use an electric ventilator for the warm days of summer! It is better to use this than an air condition....we save energy!

 

And... finally recycling!!! there is a machine now in rhodes where you can put plastic botles, glass bottles, aluminiun cans, plastic bags, batteries... and you get a discount coupon for a supermarket (but the money is too low), or... you can donate the money for a charity! That's so nice! You help other people and you help Earth at the same time!!!

 

A friend from Norway who worked in the recycle in his country, told me that 90% of the things we throw... can be recycled!!! What a loss we had all these years and what a damage for Earth!!!

 

3) Oh! I do not know if a photo of me waching stars or speaking in the telephone to my girlfriend would be nice.... I wish I could post a photo but... I can not!

 

Well... when the time comes.. I will tell you what exactly I did at that time, by editing!

 

I sure hope mome and more people will follow Earth hour thing and let at least 1 hour Earth breath a little and rest!

 

Thank you for the cointest! my friend!!

[lorca.nl]

i never ever hear from EARTH HOUR but it`s a GREAT thing .........

a few weekzzzzz ago we had here the NIGHT OF THE NIGHT and here in LIGHTOWN EINDHOVEN there where no LIGHTZZZZZZZZ it was so so SPECIAL to experience it....

 

i believe that we uzzzzz geocacherzzzzzz doing EARTH HOUR so so MANY time`s when we are outside caching or at a event meet each other well you all know what i mean hù

 

i do recycle alreaddy and try to be nice for our BEAUTIFUL PLANET hè i even wolk on RECYLE SHOE`ZZZzz but still i will do what i can and i will THINK of the EARTH HOUR and i`m THANKFULL that you post it in here other wise i even did`t know about it.....

 

but honest i`m sorry to tell you this but i probebly can`t take part of that SPECIAL hour cause i have a AUSSIE CACHER FRIEND that time here and that day i must bring her home to her parentzzzzzz in germany so i think i will sit in my car then driving my way home again

 

but i promizzzzzzzz that when i`m come home i will do that hour and just go wolk the doggiezzzzzzzz and when i`m doing that i will look to the sky THANKFULLY for all of YOU WHO DO HELP EACH OTHER SAFE THE EARTH........

[+Just a Trifle]

During Earth Hour this year, we will be travelling to Wagga Wagga to attend Australia's first ever Mega Event. We will be camping along the way so will not be using any electricity at all on 27th March. Cooking and sleeping under the stars - life can't get much better than that.

 

We are well aware of Earth Hour it was conceived by the World Wildlife Fund and The Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights. Following Sydney's lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event in 2008.

[+Carbon Hunter]

YES definitely.

 

Yes, yes, yes.

 

I work at Masdar City - check out my cache - GC1W05E - http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ea-362a81986bda

 

Masdar is the world's first zero carbon city based in Abu Dhabi. We as an entire company are getting active in Earth Hour - so we are doing it as an entire company.

 

What I do - we live in a really warm part of the world (Arabian Gulf) where one my laregst energy consumption comes from the air conditioning unit (we can not live without it - having annual summer temperatures well above 45 degrees Celcius - 113 Fahrenheit). So I keep it at 25 celcius rather than most people that keep it around 17 or even lower. A huge difference over the curse of the year.

 

Photo will come later

 

Thanks for a meaningful cointest - BTW: my caching name comes directly from this quest to hunt for carbon (dioxide) which is a greenhouse gas that exacerbates anthropogenic climate change.

[+fuzziebear3]

1. Post your plans for Earth Hour this year. What will you be doing during that hour (keep it family friendly please!)? Please no one liners - I would like to see a thorough answer. Added background about whether you are familiar with Earth Hour and how popular it is in your home country is welcome.

 

I actually had never heard of Earth Hour until I saw this thread. Then the next day there was an advertisement about it while I was checking my hotmail account.

 

I will do as it suggests and turn off the lights and unnecessary power equipment ... even my computer

I think during that time it would be nice to take a walk. Interesting though, I don't think it will be dark here yet ... it doesn't get dark until about 9. If the weather is nice, I will have my hubby grill something for dinner, and we will eat outside, enjoying the evening sunshine and using less power that way.

 

2. Earth Hour is just once a year but a good reminder that we can do simple things to help conserve energy and help the planet. What are some of the things that you do year-round that you think is UNIQUE or INTERESTING that are good for the environment (you only have to post one to qualify)?

 

Not very UNIQUE or INTERESTING, but ever since I was a child, I always picked up the litter I encountered when out on a walk. Now walks have grown into geocaching, and clean-up is called CITO. But same principle, and I have been doing it all my life.

 

3. Post a picture of your Earth Hour activity here on the forum after the event (again, do I have to say family friendly??).

 

Well, have to wait on this one

[max.exe]

I plan to ride my bike to school, do my homework outside (To use as much natural light before it gets dark, and take a less than 5 minute shower!

[daveindeal]

I found out about earth hour last year and will support it again this year and every year from now on.

 

#1 me and my family last year planned our dinner at the same time as EH and enjoyed it by candle light, so we may do the same again this year.

 

#2 We are re-cyclers and have done for many years, paper, plastic, glass i even try and recycle everyday objects that whould normaly be dumped, old tvs used as flower planters etc.

 

the most recent major recycle i did was built a green house (well a green dome)

 

(please note this is not my dome but an image the same)

 

All wooden bars are made from non-return builders pallets (normaly go into a skip)

All hubs are made from off cuts of 3inch pipe

All conecting straps are the metal straps that hold the bricks onto the pallets

 

My dome is 8 meters across and 4 meters at the heighst point, the only thing i have purchased for the dome is the cover (10 year life gurentee and the screws to hold it together)

[+kini_ont]

We have two porch lights, one in front with a sitting area and the second is our entrance. We replaced the switches with energy reducing (dimmer) and timer so the lights go out even if we’ve gone to bed. One problem did arise, when we’ve gone out for the evening and didn’t get home before the lights went out you’d have to fumble in the dark to get the key into the door lock, instead of extending the timer Ki placed a LED dot-it lite in between the storm and entrance door, now we just press and have a light to enter. Most of the house lights used are either LED, miniature or night lights (4 or 6 w) hey it makes it very romantic.

[ELTADA]

Great responses so far...keep 'em coming...just over a week left in this cointest!

[+Carbon Hunter]

Well done daveindeal - great project

[+Just a Trifle]

Earth hour is soon approaching - some of the things we do on a daily basis include not wasting water and using no more than 100 litres per person each day, make sure lights are not left on in rooms not in use and outside lights have motion sensors fitted. We don't leave electronic equipment on standby, and we open our windows to cool the house down rather than installing airconditioning. Recycling whatever we can, and not buying into commercialism are other ways we look after our environment.

[+GATOULIS]

I can not edit my post anymore!! Sorry!

 

In 30 minutes the lights will close here for Earth's hour! I hope many will follow that! I think last year Greece was in the first 3 countries in participation! That is good!

 

My girlfriend didn't come... she couldn't and... the scy is clear! the is a little wind and some moisture (so.. a litle cold but for Rhodes not for you!) so I am prepairing my telescope to see some stars and the moon! I will phone to my sweetie so she can keep me company!

 

So.. now it is official what I will do in the Earth's hour!

 

Come on!! when the time comes in your place... close the lights etc! Let Earth breath a litle and get some rest!!! It is only for 1 hour! come on!! We can do it!

 

I am so exited with recycling! The put a machine in Rhodes and it is taking Tin cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles for recycle! Just to bring more into that, you can have a receipt with some money earned (depending on how many cans and bottles you throw in the machine), and you can give these receipts (money) in a super market and buy something cheaper...

The money are not much (1 tin can = 1 euro cent, 3 plastic or 3 glass bottles..= 1 euro cent), but it really works! Even poor now choosed that to get some money! Of course... you can donate the money just by precing a button! So.. everything is for a good reason and we will keep our city and generally our planet clean!!!

 

Oh! they are doing the same, in this machine with batteries, plastic bags, other things...

 

They are thinking now to put more machines in other parts of the city, smaller ones in schools, and they will start this for paper too!

 

In other places, they have other things were you can drop electric machines etc, and used oils! They are also collecting paper too! What a start! We may are late in that.. but iti s much better from nothing!!!

 

... It is better to do it late than not to do it at all.... !

 

Edited to say that I just opened my PC again!

 

The stars and the moon were so great to see! ....and it was so great to talk with my girlfriend at the same time.... it was like she was here with me...

 

There were some lights in some houses, but I think it went good!!!!!

 

Oh! I wish I could post a photo but since I know that I can not put it in my PC after it.. I didn't take! huh!

Edited March 27, 2010 by GATOULIS

[ELTADA]

Oh yes I forgot that there is a time limit on the editing. No problem ... just add another post with more to your entry or a picture. I will sort it all out later and come up with a way to do the drawing.

 

Keep the entries coming! But don't forget to shut off your computer for Earth Hour! lol!

[+Toojin]

1. The sun sets here at 8:07 p.m. and dusk lasts awhile, so it still be somewhat light at 8:30. I think I will go for a walk or maybe finish up the weeding. Playing in the soil is a good way to re-connect to Mother Earth.

 

2. It is not unique or interesting but I am trying to figure out the puzzlement of where to recycle glass. I got got a giant wheelie for combined recycling from our city, but they don't accept glass...

[+anne.and.eli]

1. We recognized Earth Hour here at The Petting Zoo. We turned off the lights and looked down the street and quite a few houses turned their lights off too! We chatted in the dark and sat on the floor and played with the animals. It was really nice.

 

2. Eli and I are big into recycling and reusing. We have the smallest trash can and don't even fill it up every week! We recently had to remove a tree (it was growing within 3" of the side of the house, and the roots were raising the house's foundation), but we reused some of the lumber to repair our fence line, used the tree trimmings as mulch for our garden, and donated the trunk to the state parks to mill down for benches. It was a 95 foot tall tree so there was a lot of wood!

 

3. Here's our picture...HAhahaha!

 

j/k. It was dark, so I couldn't take pictures!

[+anne.and.eli]

Oops, I saw that I posted after the deadline. No worries! It is just fun to connect with other people who are doing what they can for the earth!

[+Carbon Hunter]

struggling to get my photos up - but was good to see the world's tallest building - Burj Khalifa - being turned off for Earth Hour.

 

We also all had a EE light on our desks as we got to work this morni ng (yep - we work on Sunday's here in the Middle east) - but at least get Friday's off

[ELTADA]

lol! anne.and.eli!

 

Just a reminder that this cointest closes tonight at midnight (EST). You can still enter in all three categories (what you did for earth hour, what you do to be considerate of the environment, a pic of you enjoying earth hour).

 

I will be announcing the winner sometime tomorrow.

[+SgtMikal]

1) We couldn't really participate in Earth Hour this year. My son't Cub Scout Pack was having an auction fund-raiser at that time on Saturday evening, so we had to be there for that. I can imagine the mayhem that would have ensued if I had shut off all of the lights during the auction.

 

2) Even though there isn't really any widespread recycling program in the area where I live, my family still saves the plastic that we use. Every now and then we load up one of our vehicles and drive it down to the next state which has some drop off points here and there. That way, we are still participating, even if there isn't much going on at home.

 

3) I don't have any photos to share of this year's Earth Hour festivities, though, as we were at the auction.

 

Thanx for the cointests, ELTATDA! PS...I strill have the Cachin' on the Water coin that I won from you way back when. It was one of my first coins, and remains one of my favorite coins in my collection. Just thought you might like to hear that.

[This.and.That.Kidd]

I don't know if this is entry-worthy, but I figured I may as well recount my little story here.

 

So my fiancee and I decided to turn off our webcams, shut down our computers, turn off the lights, and celebrate Earth Hour. Everything went well with her and her family up north. While a bit of an oxymoron for conserving the environment during this time, I had a shower in the pitch black. Of course, five minutes into the shower, at exactly 8:30 almost as if planned, the fire alarm for my entire dorm went off because someone on my hall burnt a couple of bagels. Clambering out into the decidedly wet and cold darkness. I texted my fiancee to let her know what had happened. She declared it the best Earth Hour ever. So loving.

 

Once the fire department and come and gone and we were allowed back inside, I resumed my shower. Yeah, showering wasn't the most conservational activity, but considering how badly I needed one, I'd wager I already did my conserving several days in advance. Gross.

 

And now you know.

 

- Matt

[+Fianccetto]

For Earth Hour we ended up staying at home, lit a few candles, told a few jokes and stories and had an early night. It had been a really busy day. I was hoping to post a photo, but...it was dark!

 

It was good to see that the local university joined in by switching off non-essential lighting. It seemed as though all the houses of our town were still lit up the same as usual, though.

 

#2 We've been recycling all we can for years. Nothing unique. We've tended to wear stuff out and replace (often with second hand) rather than always updating and buying new, mainly because we couldn't afford new things. Even then, we've used freecycle to pass on things the children have outgrown, or things that someone else could use (like a climbing frame, 3 piece suite, tables, doll's house, bed & a washing machine that needed a new door). When we met, Mr F would reuse tea bags (yep, he still does that too!) I still collect things like old clothes and interesting items and make them into something useful. I make patchwork, clothes, mosaic items, and cards or gifts but other things too.

As better recycling facilities have become available, we have recycled what we can (you can only hoard so much stuff!!) I was happily surprised by Gloucestershire's recycling facilities when we moved here, they recycle everything from batteries, electrical items, old spectacles, shoes, foil, tins, card, bottles, clothes, books, tetra packs, plastic bottles, garden waste, you name it. We've moved 4 times in the last 2 years and each time I've cleared out what we don't need, by freecycling, taking to thrift shops and trips to the recycling centre. Since February they collect (from the curbside) thin card, plastic bottles and food waste as well as the glass, cans, paper and batteries they did already. What they don't collect, we save up and take to the recycling centre.

One problem here is that we have a very visible (smelly) and pressing need for recycling which is the huge landfill site right on the edge of town. It's the result of a short sighted local government decision to let other neighbouring big cities pay to bring their waste here for a few years. I suppose one thing I do which might be fairly unusual is that I put things to be recycled into the dishwasher! It dates back to when we didn't have much storage for recycling and it would be weeks between visits to the centre, so to eliminate the smell, and make it more pleasant for the people sorting it (by hand) I just got into the habit. They just fill in any spaces before the wash. Oh, and last Christmas we reused the packing paper used when we moved house as Christmas wrapping paper, with some red raffia, and home made decorations and labels. One year all our Christmas presents to nieces & parents were those gifts that go to communities in Africa/ Asia (things like goats, hens, education supplies, fruit trees, a bore hole, that kind of thing) as we just didn't want to give things people didn't want.

I've started to do a lot more cooking from scratch a couple of years ago so that I can freeze what I've made, and have less packaging to throw out.

That's about it really, rather than recycling, we're now aiming to not need to recycle, and to reuse where possible.

 

Thanks for making us think...And for getting us to share. There's some great ideas here. I've started to think more when I'm litter picking and separate recyclables thanks to this thread! )

[ELTADA]

Just a couple of hours left...

[ELTADA]

Thank you to everyone who checked out my cointest and/or posted an entry. It was great to see that Earth Hour is celebrated all over the world. And it's always good to hear what others are doing to recycle, reduce, reuse...

 

The winner of the cointest (by draw) turned out to be....

 

CARBON HUNTER!

 

Honorable mention goes to fellow Canadian This.and.That.Kidd for making me laugh and having probably the most eventful Earth Hour! lol!

 

In case you were wondering what we did for our Earth Hour, we kept my son (3) up late and played board games by candlelight. We also celebrated with an ice cream cone - a special treat. We actually kept everything off for probably almost two hours. I was surprised (and disappointed) to see that many of my neighbours still had their lights on during the hour...

 

Congrats to Carbon Hunter -- send me your address if you will so I can get your prize out to you.

[+GATOULIS]

Congratulations to Carbon Hunder!!!!

 

Thnak you Eltada for the great cointest!!!!

[+Fianccetto]

Yay, we have a winner! Congrats Carbon Hunter! Wow, masdar City looks like a pretty amazing place.

[+anne.and.eli]

Congrats to Carbon Hunter!!! Well deserved!

 

And thank you so much Eltada for a cointest to raise awareness!

[+kini_ont]

Congratulations Carbon Hunter and thank you Eltada for promoting Earth Day, today they mentioned that in Simcoe County there had been an increase or make that a decrease of 6% power usage during the hour.

[ELTADA]

Carbon Hunter...don't forget to send me your address! YOU WON!

[+Carbon Hunter]

Wow, wow, wow.

 

Thank you - sorry - I have been travelling for the past few weeks and no on the forums.

 

I'm blown away.

 

Thank you. PM sent

[ELTADA]

Carbon Hunter and I have been in touch about his prize so I think this thread can close now mods please.

 

Thank you to everyone who played along!

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Closed by request of the OP.