Global warming, the topic itself, is covered in any kind of news paper, blog or other kind of media. Ad nauseam. However, every once in a while I come across with a nice approach towards saving energy. The idea per se isn’t new for me, since I tend to automatically soak up any San Francisco related news like a sponge (again I recommend Metroblog SF - in an all new design, btw). Here’s the deal: Cities around the world decided to host a huge event where they turn off all their lights for an hour. San Francisco did that last October with the Lights Out San Francisco event. They originally planned a Lights Out America version that happens to coincide with Earth Hour day. Sydney gets the credit for the initiating process of Earth Hour. So, now they’re going global. Earth Hour.

Here some facts about the Earth Hour last year:

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

Watch the movie attached to this entry. It’s quite nice and shows the essence of the pickle we’re in. So what can you do on March 29, 2008? Cities across the world will switch off the lights at 8 pm (the local time of the city).

I am still trying to figure out how to save energy on Phil’s Blogging. Restaurants in participating cities will darken up and serve candle light dinners. Here’s my idea, I’ll turn of my blog for one hour. Maybe, the world needs to live without my blog for one hour to entirely appreciate it. One hour, without Phil’s blogging? I guess, that’s the price we pay for driving gas-guzzling SUVs and blowing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere like freaking maniacs…