Earth Hour
http://www.earthhour.org/ is coming up fast again, less than 41 days away as of right now.
In previous years the choice of night wasn't great (given that it has been set for full moon previously) but the organisers seem to go with the last Satuday in March, with pot luck as to moon phase.
HOWEVER .... this years event is being held the night immediately after New Moon!!
MOST PROBABLY ... this is just pure dumb luck this time.
Maybe they done this as a tie in to the whole 2009 International Year of Astronomy theme..
Maybe they received lots of feedback from stargazers, astronomers (both amateur and professional
) and other dark lovers..
Maybe they've clued up to the fact that people might get REALLY excited by the Earth Hour project and get behind the ides of reducing power consumption / light pollution when they realise they can see SO MUCH MORE in a dark suburban sky that is unblanched by moonlight.
If you like the reasoning behind any of those "maybe" reasons then MAYBE you should send an email to the organisers and thank them for such cleverness this year, and suggest WHY it's better to organise it in future for a night with as little moon as possible.
Anyway I don't care why it's going to occurr virtually on New Moon this year, I just think it's great that it is a much more appropriate night to do it!
I think those of us who support this initiative should make the most of the timing:
1- Get friends and neighbours involved in a viewing night in the middle of suburbia.
2- If you have any sway at work see if you can get some/all unnecessary lighting / power consumption turned off for the event / night / weekend!
3- Contact local shops, businesses and especially anywhere that is putting out unnecessary light / wasting power nightly.
For anyone who wants to read the hordes of discussion from the last 2 years, including plenty of comments from those who don't think this is a good idea, here it is
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ght=earth+hour
I'm hoping that we can keep
this thread focussed on further event information, any actual plans and gatherings that IIS members and others may have for this years event, etc. If anyone feels the need to rubbish the concept again, or turn it into the "global warming: fact or farce" discussion again I certainly wouldn't mind if you started up a separate thread to do so.