going dark

March 28, 2009
Vote with your lightswitch to save Planet Earth.

Starting at 8:30 PM in New Zealand, over 70 countries have agreed to turn off lights to
vote for Planet Earth this Saturday, March 28, 2009.

This initiative began in Australia in 2007 and is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to send a message to our leaders that we need to concentrate fully on planetary conservation initiatives and must work concertedly to curtail global climate change.

According to Bill McKibben, the earth is now at 380 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere... For life to continue on earth as we know it, we need to target the number 350 ppm. Yet, global leaders are considering signing an agreement to limit CO2 emissions to 450 ppm. What is this about?

For some time now, visionary Lester R. Brown of the Earth Policy Institute has had a do-able program to reduce emissions while building the economy. He has written two books Plan B. 2.0 and Plan B 3.0 which present his plan in great detail. Yet, we are currently engaged in space exploration to find another "earth" out there somewhere... Why waste this funding at a time when we might better spend this money to conserve Planet Earth? Why can't we appreciate and learn to take care of the unique and beautiful planet that we call home ?