Preville on Politics

How I spent my Earth Hour

Posted on March 31, 2008 by Philip Preville

At eight o’clock every night, I sit in a rocking chair with my son on my lap and read him stories by the light of an electric lamp. Lights out comes around 8:15 p.m. This past Saturday was right on schedule. As Earth Hour approached, my son and I were upstairs while my wife was in the living room trying to get some work done on her laptop—unexpectedly so, since she was supposed to be at work. I had told her at suppertime that I thought we should observe Earth Hour. “Observe” somehow seemed more apropos than “celebrate” or “participate in,” given the event’s religious tint. In fact, the zeal of the daily propaganda in the Toronto Star had kinda put us both off, but we decided to do it anyway.

We lit two candles in my son’s room, and instead of reading him stories, I made one up from thin air—about a boy who lived in the mountains with his horse and his cat, and who set off camping with a gaggle of forest friends including an owl and a moose. He enjoyed the experience of pure imagination so much, he asked me to tell the story again. He then blew out the candles and went down without a struggle. I came downstairs and looked outside. Most people on my street were observing, too. The street lights were brighter and whiter than they’d ever been, but only because the rest of the street and the city had gone dark for once, eliminating the orange glow of light pollution that normally permeates the ether.

In the living room, my wife was lying on the couch, enjoying the stillness and the candlelight. By powering down our perennially busy household, we were able to enjoy our home in a way we normally would not. It reminded me of growing up in Montreal, powered by Hydro-Québec’s notoriously fickle grid. You could always count on two or three nights without power every winter, and I loved those outages because they shut down the bustle—you simply had to stop doing whatever you were doing. The entire family would gather in the living room by candlelight and talk and laugh and play silly games. Electrical utilities are much more reliable today than they were 30 years ago, and that never happens anymore. So, with Earth Hour as a model, I think I’ll just have to schedule them in.

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Mark Dowling March 31, 2008 at 2:14 p.m.

"In fact, the zeal of the daily propaganda in the Toronto Star had kinda put us both off"

Not just me then.

Philip Preville March 31, 2008 at 4:27 p.m.

No, definitely not just you, Mark. Looky here:

http://torontolife.com/blog/spectator/20...

Shawn Micallef March 31, 2008 at 11:56 p.m.

The zeal, meh. But I'm glad this wasn't the usual cynical take on Earth Hour, mostly from people who already fashion themselves enviro, saying it won't do no good. Like Bono, like Live Earth, big politics, high-concept message, sometimes is a force of good, in a large general way.

MotherEarth April 1, 2008 at 4:33 p.m.

Like most people who were not aware of the Earth's hour lights off, likely for me I just happen to catch it on Google site. I clicked and read and thought hey that sounds like a good Idea! Earth's hour started at 8:00pm and ended at 9:00pm. I shut everything off in my home at 8:00pm and decided to just look out the window to see how many other people done the same. The one building down the street was completely dark...wow. The buildings across the street were only half lite so really I didn't see much of a change there. But it would have been interesting if more people had participated just to see what kind of energy saving impact it would of had on the Earth. Most people take the Earth for granted and yes I am guilty too. But it wouldn't hurt all of us to just give something so simple back to it to show we care. Earth's lights out for an hour should be done more often. After all the Earth is providing us with our lives. Without the Earth doing it's wonderous job of providing us with air to breathe, water and food to feed us we wouldn't be here. I, Thank the Earth and I am one people who feels so much better as a person for taking that little be of time to do something kind in return. Hopefully theres a next time for another Earth's hour and hopefully it is more productive and hopefully more people participate.

Mark Dowling April 2, 2008 at 4:37 p.m.

According to that nasty National Post, where they were probably burning tires to mark the turn of 8pm, our First Citizen could only manage 15 minutes of Earth Hour before retreating to his automobile and is mighty cranky when asked about it.

Philip Preville

Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.

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