Alternative plans for earth hour blackout

Sustainability
WRITTEN BY Ana Rodríguez i Quirant
01 Mar, 2022 — 7 min
Alternative plans for earth hour blackout

The movement that Grup Carles joins for Earth Hour consists of turning off the lights for one hour on Saturday, March 26, from 20:30 to 21:30. This gesture is an excellent opportunity to reflect on what each of us can do from home to contribute to the fight against climate change. It's an occasion to see how these small efforts, added to those of millions of people of different ages and cultures in more than 10 countries, can make a big difference and can turn an insignificant impact into significant energy savings.

The goal is for everyone to turn off the lights at home, in shops, and in businesses, as we will do at Grup Carles. Even cities turn off the lights of the most emblematic buildings, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

But, what can we do during this hour?

Here are some tips if you still don't have a plan:

It may seem like an impossible mission to enjoy something without using electricity, but in this article, we provide you with various alternative plans that you can do this Saturday 26th during Earth Hour and even any day you want. You'll save on electricity costs and learn to enjoy other plans that you hadn't imagined before:

Outdoor plans:

  1. Night walk: you can join us and Igualada pel Clima in this slow march we have organized to enjoy a plan without the use of light. With this march, we join the movement: KILOMETERS FOR THE PLANET where we will participate in the WWF challenge, adding our kilometers to reach the 40,000 needed to travel around the Planet, currently, all participants already add up to almost 5 laps!
  2. Night stroll: If you don't like the idea of a walk, or it's not convenient for you, you can go for a walk, with your dog or with friends and family to enjoy an hour outdoors.
  3. Stargazing: during the week we get carried away by the daily routine and don't stop to observe, learn to look beyond and contemplate the sky. How many constellations would you be able to recognize?

Home plans:

  1. Games with children: If you are at home with children, you can play "the darkness" or "blind man's bluff," or tell stories with shadow puppets and take advantage of this hour to explain to them why Earth Hour is done and to have fun family games in the warmth of candlelight.
  2. Artistic contests in the dark: Propose things to draw and after an hour see what each has done and, after the blackout, see if it resembles what was requested. After the blackout, you will continue with a good round of laughs observing the artworks!
  3. Luxury gastronomic experiences: There are restaurants that to enhance other senses serve food in the dark: clients taste all the dishes blindly and then observe the photos of what has been served at the table to make comparisons of whether it is what they had imagined or not. You can do the same at home, a new gastronomic experience: 60 minutes in which we can savor the food, but not see what it is. We will have to figure out what we are tasting and comment on it when the lights come on.
  4. Romantic dinner for two: Organise a romantic candlelight dinner.
  5. Meditation: According to Feng-Shui followers, darkness gives energy. We can use this hour to meditate or do some relaxing activity that recharges our batteries.
  6. Debate about Earth Hour: Can one hour provoke a social change? Is it useful for anything? Do we protect the environment? Everyone with their opinions. But yes, without turning on the lights.
  7. Storytelling: They can be made up, scary, or even past anecdotes. Each one has to tell their story.
  8. Long exposure photography: Play with the lighter or with a flashlight if it's for children to take long exposure photographs.
  9. Switch to LED lights: You can take the time without lights to change the lighting to low consumption ones. This will not only entertain you for this hour but will also save you for a long time.

If you don't feel like doing any of the proposed activities, you can take the opportunity to go directly to sleep and leave the lights off all night.

Take advantage of this day to help communicate to people the environmental problem and also save on the electricity bill. And you, what do you plan to do during Earth Hour?

You can share with us the plan you make in comments, or on any of the social networks, mention us on the networks by posting what you are doing during the blackout, together we can make a more sustainable world.

Invite friends and family to join the movement, you will enjoy this experience without light all together!

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