<p>Earth Hour is an international event that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on the evening of 29 March at 8PM local time until 9PM to promote electricity conservation and thus lower carbon emissions.</p>
<p>3/29/08 from 8:00-9:00 PM local time.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www3.earthhourus.org/signup/[/url]”>http://www3.earthhourus.org/signup/</a></p>
<p>is my computer essential?</p>
<p>In December of 2006 many WA residents participated in some sort of “earth week”: no power b/c of the severe windstorm. D still misses the candlelight dinners which we cooked on our gas stove. Count us in!</p>
<p>D (at home) told us that we will be participating…at least our home will be; we’ll be at a bball stadium with massive lights ablazing, getting ready for the UNC NCAA game to start at 9:05. I’ll think conservative thoughts then…</p>
<p>We will be lighting some candles and reading by hurricane lamp for an hour tomorrow night. (So yes, we are participating.)</p>
<p>I’ll be on a train tomorrow night…but I’ll think low-electricity thoughts,</p>
<p>Not only will we turn out the lights but I’ll refrain from getting an idea for that hour.</p>
<p>No Light Bulbs? Do CFC or quantum LED’s qualify?</p>
<p>Google is ‘dark’ today.</p>
<p>I have my candles ready. It would be interesting to be out in space to watch the wave progress around the planet…</p>
<p>Just got a new hand crank lantern for camping, then realized it’s just the thing for tonight. If more illumination than candles is necessary.</p>
<p>Google is my home page, and it’s really startling to have it be black today.</p>
<p>This is like the people who don’t go to church all year, but go to church on Easter because it makes them feel good. :(</p>
<p>Google looks sweet right now :)</p>
<p>This is no Easter service. I am living in an area where we get 8 hours of water in every 48. No rain…major drought. One of many I have passed through in 20 years. My car gets washed with 1/2 a bucket of water. My toilet gets flushed with water than runs to bring down the solar hot water from the roof. Gas is over the top in price. I walk and drive less. I had to laugh at the article on how to save gas that I read yesterday. Drive less fast. Gee, where did that come from? Electricity is so expensive that I watch every light carefully and have the expensive toxic new ones. 
Weather is great here though. Just have to conserve and the way I look at it, we should all have to be so aware. The way I figure it, someday water will be more precious than oil. And we will be out of necessity turning off the lights.</p>
<p>My google’s not dark. What am I missing?</p>
<p>fordiscussion, the main Google homepage is not black? I’m not sure how yours isn’t because I think everyone else’s is. :)</p>
<p>Although I think that some people may fit into the category of doing this to ‘feel good’, I don’t think that is the case with the majority, and even if it was, it’s still a good thing in which to participate. Toronto has hundreds of special gatherings and events tonight, including a concert at city hall. All of the tall towers in the city will be extinguishing exterior lights and unnecessary interior lights, the ACC where the Maple Leafs game will be occurring will turn off the exterior lights, the CN tower’s lights will go dark except for the airline warning safety lights. A chain of stores in town has been giving away energy saver lightbulbs all week for a donation to the food bank. All grocery stores and most malls will dim lights for the hour. Billboards leading into the city will be turned off.</p>
<p>It may be thought of as a symbolic gesture but that doesn’t lessen its importance, in my opinion. Most people I know have been going more and more ‘green’ in their day to day lives. Public transit use is up, energy saving light bulbs are the norm (the standard type will be outlawed here in a couple of years), many drive their cars less than they used to, use of energy saving appliances is common, I honestly don’t know anyone who doesn’t use reusable bags for their groceries (Whole Foods doesn’t even have plastic bags anymore). Schools have environmental lessons built into the curriculum. The school where my oldest D teaches has had an environment club for years (actually her elementary school did, too, when she was very young) and they have a vegetable and flower garden on the school grounds. They compost leftovers from school lunches, hold drives for recycled batteries, and they collect pennies every year so that in the spring a new tree can be planted on school property.</p>
<p>Even the city and surrounding towns’ waste management policies are changing. We have weekly collection of recycled materials and GreenCart materials. Regular trash collection is now once every two weeks (six bag limit), to encourage people to separate their waste accordingly. The goal is to reach a 60% diversion rate from the landfill. I don’t think these efforts are to make people feel good. They are important for the future of not only our own communities but for the planet as a whole. Each positive step is a good thing, however small.</p>
<p>^^^My google is not dark either?</p>
<p>Mine is dark. Do you have yesterday’s copy cached maybe?</p>
<p>EDIT: Or maybe you’re not in the US? From the “Earth Hour” link on the blackened Google homepage:</p>
<p>“Google users in the United States will notice today that we “turned the lights out” on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour.”</p>
<p>The Google Classic Home is dark. The IGoogle (my home page) is not.</p>