Tuesday 14 February 2012

Saving The World From My Kitchen

Hello, people of the earth,
Whilst many of you will have read my display name or blog title and immediately assumed that the subject of this blog is how to make compost out of your apple cores or leftover fruit loops or whatever, but gladly this is not the case. The reason for my blog title is not that I have an abnormal interest in fruit-loop-shmear, though I'm sure fruit-loop-shmear is very precious to some. The reason for the kitchen location is just that my laptop's wireless range is so bad that it only connects to the internet when it's in the same room as the modem...how anticlimactic. But as I hunch over the kitchen counter, trying not to get distracted by the box of donuts on the worktop, in the remainder of my brain that is not dominated by pastry-based snacks, I actually have a more important subject in mind.
Guessed it yet?
Yeah, it's saving the world.
(Did I waste enough of your time telling you about my kitchen-based antics there? I think so)
Now that I'm actually on the subject I'd originally intended to talk about, I'll just get down to business.
I'm not going to bore you by telling you about how climate change is going to devastate this planet in just a few short years, nor am I going to tell you about how "IT'S ALL OUR FAUUULLLTT!" or "THE END IS COMING!!!" because I think that constantly hearing this drivel, although perfectly valid and true, actually puts people in defiance mode, dating back to the distant times when our parents told us to clean our room. Despite being told "it's for your own good" and "you'll love the benefits of having a bedroom floor that you can actually walk on", us as children knew that our parents were liars, deceiving us with empty promises in order to gain a bit of free slave labour. 
Sounds familiar with the current situation on global warming? I think so.
Like many of you, I don't enjoy being told to tidy my room. I don't enjoy actually tidying my room. I don't even really like the finished product, if I were to continue the analogy. But my messy room has never threatened to kill me with extreme weather conditions, crop failures, floods, species extinction (it disrupts the whole food chain), hurricanes and forest fires. 
Our messy planet can threaten these. 
And it won't stop at just that. 
Look, I'm just saying, our world is a pretty nice place to be at the moment. You might not know this; you probably don't even think about it very often, but it supports life, often a hell of a lot of life- people these days can live to a hundred or more! That's more than can be said for the other planets in our solar system. But it's precarious. Yet we're completely dependent on it if we want any hope at all of basic survival. 
Why throw it all away for leaving all the lights on just because you can?


"So, what do we do?" I hear you cry. (Well, I don't 'hear' you, but...)
Well, this morning, whilst browsing my WWF magazine (if you don't support WWF you're really missing out, it's amazing and really inspirational - check out www.wwf.org ; you won't regret it) I spotted a feature at the back about Earth Hour.
If you haven't already heard of Earth Hour, it's basically a way of saving the planet that isn't hard- well, as the name suggests, it only takes an hour. But one hour around the globe can have a massive effect, this time in beneficialness, that one person alone cannot hope to achieve. Earth hour wants you to do one simple thing: turn off all your lights for one hour.
This hour will take place on Saturday 31 March at 8:30pm.
Ideas for stuff to do for the hour in the dark-
- Play murder in the dark
- Actually murder people in the dark (not recommended)
- Have a candlelit dinner (ooh, romantic. Considering today is Valentine's day... ouch, sorry, touchy subject for internet geeks, I know.)
-  Tell ghost stories (-_-)
-  Reflect (my personal favourite)
-  Think of new ideas to save the world! (DEFINITELY recommended... ouch, enthusiasm overload. I apologize for that.)


"It's not just about an hour of darkness; it's about a brighter future"


I think Earth Hour is a brilliant idea. I'm saying this seriously now. Get involved- for your own good. "Suffer" without light for one hour this March- or suffer without hope for generations to come.
Find out more on www.wwf.org.uk/earthhour 
OR... find out more in my future blogs-to-come.
I'm going to shut up now, but don't forget the message. Pass it on! Save the world!
To the probably about three people who've bothered to get to the end of this, you've been a wonderful audience. 


"It's not just about an hour of darkness; it's about a brighter future"


Deep.

9 comments:

  1. Alice I am truly inspired and I am going to be there on Saturday 31 March at 8:30pm turning all the lights off in my house and reflecting :) thanks
    Truly inspirational
    Your Buddy
    Emilija

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  2. Thanks, Emilija. I'm going to start handing out leaflets about Earth Hour (on recycled paper only!) so I'll give you one next week.
    And thanks for the feedback! xD

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  3. Hey, I just wanted to say: very nice written and I love how pasionate you are about saving the earth, we and the earth need more people like you! And we need to do something now, starting with a blog is an amazing idea to get more people to care/be more aware of what is happening to the world. I'm going to turn off all my lights that sunday just I have been doing the past years! I'm going to read your blog like a mad woman! xD
    // Weareallabunchofliars from mychemicalromance.com ^^

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  4. Thanks :) We're going to have to build an army and FIGHT global warming for everything it's worth. Earth hour is a start- and I think it's a good way to get ordinary, not particularly eco-caring people on board, and begin to fuel their own eco passions. Lets hope a bunch of people read the blog and join the eco-army. It's the only hope we have for a brighter future.

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  5. :) we are going to get people to understand how important this is! It is so easy to remember to turn off the lights, and recycle but more people need to get up and fight!

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  6. Dear Saving the World,
    Is this your first blog? It's really well written and engaging. I look forward to reading more.
    Also, I'll be lights out on 3/31 thanks to you!

    www.specialeducationconversations.com

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  7. Hi,
    Yep, this post is my first blog. And thanks! It's great to know that other people will be helping us out on 3/31, so keep it up! :)

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  8. Good work sir, although the title did suggest it was your kitchen that we need to save the earth from. I too have a blog, and it is vaguelly related, on self sufficiency, although there is no fruit-loop-shmear. Sorry about that.

    http://grinbin.com/gardening/

    Will

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  9. Hey Alice,
    I did what you said and looked at your blog! It is amazing and very inspiring. I will definitely be supporting this and turning my lights of on Saturday 31 March at 8:30pm.

    Rhian x

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