Earth Hour 2008

I wanted to pass this along in case someone else missed out as I did! I didn 't know about Earth Hour until reading Marie Brown's blog on her Eco-Chic Design website tonight. I wish I had known, I would have participated. Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia last year and took place on March 31st. For one hour, everyone shut off their lights to help ease the pressure on global resources. These numbers are awe-inspiring to me - 2.2 million people turned off their lights which resulted in a 10.2% energy reduction in the city or the equivalent of taking 48,000 cars off the road - all by shutting of their lights for one hour! It's so amazing and inspiring to me what we are capable of when we work together. To see the video on this, click here.
I just wrote Marie today that I am so thankful for having met her (in case you're new to the blog, see posts from last month to see session highlights of Eco-Chic Design). It is through her and people like my aunt that I'm becoming more aware of issues I have often shrugged off as "hype" or "not my problem." I have so far to go in truly reducing (and truly understanding how to reduce) my footstep on our earth but I continue to try to retrain myself to think in eco-friendly ways. I get frustrated with myself because so much of what we do is habit-based - often it isn't until I'm in the checkout aisle at the store that I realize I forgot my canvas bags in the trunk.
So, though these may seem like extremely small and simple things, these are three big things in my life that I hope to change my habits:

1. replace plastic and paper shopping bags with my canvas bags - if you run into me at the store and I'm carrying plastic, I expect to hear about it! :)
2. reduce - eventually eliminate - plastic water bottles from my life (note to Starbucks partners (or employees but Starbucks calls them 'partners' which I just love!) - if you see me in the drive thru do NOT sell me any bottled water - oh yeah, and please no sweets either - do me a favor, and just tell me you're sold out. :) ! I'm addicted to water bottles but in truth, it's just another one of those convenient, habit-based things.
3. recycle, recycle, recycle. Yes, I'm so late to get aboard doing this. I did try at one point and had a mound of recycled bags stacked in our garage much to the annoyance of my spouse since I was littering an area that is technically "not my territory" (that includes the backyard as well - supposedly I have all say over the house and so these areas are the places where I have NO say. The funny thing about that is, if I had all say over the house, for one, it'd be a lot more decorated than it is now (as in, budgeted money spent on the house, NOT the backyard), and secondly, you'd see a lot more colored walls and TONS OF RED! Where is that emotion icon with the little guy sticking his tongue out when you need it?? :)

Okay, so there are my goals. I hope if you see me and I'm not holding to them you holler at me...unless I have my kids and then you might freak them out and me too. But by all means, if I'm walking alone and have a bottle in my hand, go ahead - holler! Sometimes it takes a little noise to get the wake up call going!

Checkout Marie's cool site here!