Earth Hour Pics

DID YOU PARTICIPATE in this past Saturday's Earth Hour? Whether you did or didn't, here's the good news: Earth Hour can be celebrated every day (or perhaps I should say every evening) by shutting off lights, unplugging 'instant on' appliances (like many TV's, stereos, and computers) and making a major effort to reduce the old carbon footprint. Reducing light at night also helps migrating birds, who often get confused/disoriented at night by bright lights, and/or slam into brightly lit buildings, or are guided to cities by the lure of bright lights (I sense a Jay M. novel here somewhere). Something, too, has atrophied in our collective soul, since we have banished the night and its sacred mystery. There are millions upon millions of people who have never even seen Venus, Jupiter, Orion. Although I live on a four-lane state highway, there are four acres of woods behind the barn behind the house, and the difference in the amount of stars one can see is amazing. There are also fireflies between me and the stars out there, and when I lay on my back and look up, after a while it seems all the stars are swirling and dancing. Nature repeats her successful patterns.

Here are some great shots of Earth Hour, with the added feature of clicking on the photo (beginning with the second photo) to see the lights fade.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/03/earth_hour_2011.html