Where were you at 8 pm on Saturday?

I am under strict instruction not to reveal the events of the past weekend at the Jello House (you know, we're like Las Vegas in that way), but there is one thing we did that I think it's safe to write about: Earth Hour.

I am sorry I didn't write about this last week, but it kind of snuck up on me. And unfortunately, it did not receive much publicity in the MSM. But here's the deal:

On March 29th, people everywhere turned off their lights–to make a statement, to help find new ways to reduce their impact on the environment, and to start a movement that ends with a solution to the common challenge we all face.

Millions of Americans–in Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, San Francisco and dozens of other communities large and small–joined mayors, citizens' groups, schools and corporations from coast to coast. Around the globe, people on five continents took part, from Albania to Zimbabwe, Bosnia to Uzbekistan, Canada to Uruguay.

I almost forgot about this major event, because in my hometown there was no recognition of it. That's truly disappointing, as Maryland is an environmental bellweather -- the Chesapeake Bay will tell us the future, I believe. Fortunately, I logged on to the laptop Saturday afternoon to check the basketball scores and came upon this:


After a brief "Hey -- what's wrong with Google?!" I realized they were honoring and publicizing this important event. Yay for Google!

So with a little careful planning, we were able to enjoy a beer (or two) and the world's best crabcakes, and still make it home in time to light the chimnea out back and look up at the stars. Of course, our planning unfortunately did not include getting out the candles before we left for the restaurant, it only included turning off all the lights so that when 8:00 came, the house would be dark even if we didn't make it back yet. Hence, our arrival back home consisted of a comic scene of 3 of us fumbling around in the dark trying to find candles, lighter, gloves, beverage, etc.

We really did very little, but for an hour we reduced our impact on the earth. Maybe we can make this a trend, before we're forced into cutting off the electricity out of necessity once the oil runs out....

h/t to ThinkProgress for the Google screenshot!