Caz

Last night the Hobbit household joined millions of other families and businesses around the world in flipping off ALL electricity for one hour.   One measely hour reduced the city of Sydney Australia's power consumption by 6%... could have been more, but alas people were not as enthusiastic in their participation this year :(  

This is our 3rd year, I think, being part of Earth Hour.  I don't harbour any delusions that this one hour will save the world by any means.  But what this one hour does, is makes a statement.  It says that we CAN do better than what we currently do.  It says that MY family can live without artificial lighting, noise and entertainment far more often than we do.  

We actually cheated, and held OUR Earth Hour at 730pm... mainly because the Hobbits are without fail in bed by 8pm on a regular night and they REALLY wanted to stay up for it.  They are very aware of energy use, and turn off lights (still working on the tv *eye roll*) and such all the time.  They were super excited to go around and help us turn off all power points, flip off the light switches and grab their torches (those are flashlights).  We had candles going around the living & family room.  We EVEN turned off the pump that operates our rain water tank... that flushes our toilets! lol   So everyone had to go before we went dark hehehe.  

We talked a bit about why we turned everything off and what the point of it was.  The kids played with their torches in the house (and found a huntsman spider in the closet and  insisted it had to go... thanks to DH for dispatching it) and then DH & I sat on the veranda with our iced coffee (premade and in the fridge waiting for the hour.. the fridge/freezer were the only things left on in the entire house) and of course the kids followed.  Despite the nearly full moon, we managed to show them the constellation Orion, as well as the Southern Cross.  Frodo pointed out that "HEY that's on our flag!" lol   The kids played games trying to scare each other in the semi darkness of the moonlight. 

At 830, we tucked the boys into bed (still with their torches lol) and watched a movie (nothing like a bit of Interview With a Vampire while enjoying the darkness! lol)  The only things we turned back on other than our tv (for the movie), were our water filter and our tank pump.  Flush toilets are a modern convenience I'm not quite ready to give up lol

Dh & I talked about the fact that for a lot of the world, the hour of darkness is pretty much a nightly thing.   We also talked about our waste... we got our power bill last week and it was 600dollars (for the quarter).  It was only slightly higher than last summers bill, most likely due to our filter/pump system for the kids swimming pool running for 3months.  But we can do better than that.  Too much air conditioning use (I don't like being hot in my own house, so I won't NOT use it.. but I WILL use it more judiciously next summer!)  

Obviously our power use in Autumn will be a bit less than it is in summer lol... so I'm shooting for about 300dollars for the next quarter.  Pool is put away, air con used far less (only in late afternoon when the sun is coming in under the veranda) and the heat.. well that's a long way off yet!  Wish us luck!

6 Responses
  1. Todd Says:

    I totally spaced this thing :-( Glad you had at least some learning moments during it.


  2. The Fambros Says:

    We participated for the 2nd year in a row for our fam! Because the moon was out and so pretty we decided to go for a family bike ride around the neighborhood! Glad to know we weren't the only ones


  3. Anonymous Says:

    I was out playing D&D and totally forgot about it. Heh heh.

    It sounds like you had fun, and really talked about the intent of it.


  4. L Says:

    Hi Caz,

    Coming over from HMS Indefatigable's blog to say hello. I'm a homeschooling dual citizen, stuck back in the US for the time being and missing Far North Queensland.

    I'm impressed at how much greener the Aussie's are. Having to stick your room key in the slot by the hotel door to activate your electric service, thus eliminating running TVs and ACs, was our first peek at a better way of life.

    Nice to 'meet' you.


  5. L Says:

    My homeschooling blog: SCHOLA (which is not linked to my 'family' blog Road SCHOLA because their blood pressure would spike.)


  6. Caz Says:

    L, thanks for sharing your hs'ing blog! How on earth are you coping with being stuck in the states, you poor thing! Especially after being infected with the love of Queensland!?! Hurry back 'home'!