Earth Hour 2009

Today, at 8:30pm GMT, people and organisations all over the world are being asked to Turn Off The Lights for one whole hour. It is called Earth Hour.

The idea is that the absence of light in homes and buildings will draw attention to the worldwide demand for reduction in Carbon Emissions. Climate Change is visible all around us, but even yet some die-hard sceptics continue to campaign against changing the way we live.

It will not be the wealthy nations who suffer the most. Island nations like the Maldives and Fiji are at risk of disappearing altogether. River delta nations like Bangladesh, Thailand, and Myanmar, are likely to lose a huge percentage of their most fertile land to the rising oceans.

Yet even wealthy nations will have problems. The Thames Barrier is being used more and more often to stop London being flooded. One day the North Sea will go over the top. Large parts of the East Coast of England are only just above, or even below, sea level. The Netherlands are another low-lying European country.

Many major cities throughout the world are located at river mouths, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, Mumbai, Calcutta, etc.

Millions, if not billions, of people are likely to lose their living places to the sea, forcing them to move to higher ground, maybe even to other countries. Migration will become a significant factor in the global society.

Yet politicians are still playing on their 5-year game plan. Such major issues cannot be solved in a few years, and the major problems won't appear for a few years yet. So let's leave it to someone else to solve. We'll just do the minimum we can get away with.

Is that your attitude too? Have you changed your commuting pattern - switched to bus, or train, or car-sharing yet? What about your holidays - still travelling by air, or holidaying more locally, perhaps by bus or train?

Let's make a mark this evening by turning out all our lights, and as much power as possible, between 8:30pm and 9:30pm. The power companies will be watching. And the politicians too.

Are you serious about tackling Climate Change?