Earth Hour 2013

Another "Earth Hour" will be upon us this Saturday, March 23rd at 8:30pm and while millions around the world will surely turn off some lights and save some energy this one-hour effort won't do much to save our planet in the long run. This year the people behind Earth Hour have created an interesting campaign called "I will if you will". Basically people post challenges that they will do if others will sign up to Earth Hour (i.e.: I will shave my beard if 10,000 people sign up). Whether this campaign works or not remains to be seen but I do think that any idea is better than none at all.

Here are some recent grim facts concerning electricity, energy, and environment on Earth:
*Source: If the World Were a Village, 2nd Edition.

• 24% of the population does not even have electricity!
• 73% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas, etc.)
• Only 10% of energy comes from renewable sources (wind, water, sun, etc.)
• 13% of people do not have access to clean water
• 38% of people do not have access to adequate sanitation
• 32% breathe polluted air on a daily basis

For more information about Earth Hour/Day: 60+ Earth Hour or WWF Blog