Earth Hour
Wednesday 6th August, 2008
Something I notice when travelling is how much light pollution we have and how it impacts our view of the night sky - or lack of - in densely populated areas. In fact, even in country areas where small towns have street lights it impacts how much we can see. In the recent journal entry “GLOBE, our night sky,” you can read about the ongoing project, GLOBE, which measures the level of this pollution and demonstrates how we are blocking our view to the rest of creation. In 2008 GLOBE received measurements from 62 countries.
A major change has occurred in the human story this year as more than 50% of Earth’s population now live in cities.
Image courtesy of NASA.
Earth Hour is a project which was initiated in Sydney, Australia in March 2007. It is about simple changes collectively making a difference to global warming. By turning out the lights for one hour Sydney residents and businesses made an enormous statement about the greatest contributer to global warming - coal fired electricity. This action created a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. Consider the difference you can make by turning out lights that are not in use, or not necessary - from businesses turning out the lights when their offices are empty to households switching appliances off rather than leaving them on standby.
Earth Hour was conceived by WWF Australia which is part of the WWF International Network, the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organisation. Their mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with the rest of nature.
The idea of Earth Hour has spread rapidly and this year 26 international Earth Hour flagship cities and 370 supporting cities participated in Earth Hour - literally millions of people joined together and turned their lights off to raise awareness about the issue of global warming. In Canberra, Australia’s capitol, 73% of the population participated resulting in an 11.4% drop in electricity consumption. This alone represents a reduction of 36 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
A special time for those living in cities - during this one hour you’ll actually see the night sky filled with stars instead of the orange haze of light pollution.
2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and GLOBE and Earth Hour have synchronised. Earth Hour coincides with the last night of the GLOBE project on the 28th March 2009 at 8.30pm. Take part - observe the night sky following the steps set out by GLOBE to observe certain easily seen stars and see the difference for yourself as the lights go out for Earth Hour. To get an idea of what happens follow this link and see the 2008 Earth Hour pictures from around the world.
Below is the guide for GLOBE 2009, 16th - 28th March.
Five Easy Star-Hunting Steps:
1) Find your latitude and longitude.
2) Find Orion by going outside an hour after sunset
(about 7-10pm local time).
3) Match your nighttime sky to one of our magnitude charts.
4) Report your observation.
Compare your observation to thousands around the world.