Earth Hour -- What It Taught Us

My husband and I decided to partake in Earth Hour 2010 tonight. We switched off all lights in the house, unplugged as many things as we could, turned off all appliances, and basically lived by candlelight...for one whole hour.

We always thought we were quite free of distractions as far as electronics and technology goes. I mean, sure I use the computer for this blog. But other than that, we are both very much nature-lovers, outdoor adventurers, and anti-TV. We take joy in simple things: sipping a cup of coffee together, reading books at the park or bookstore, going to the library, playing board games, playing guitar and piano, or just talking.

Tonight when we completely purged all reliance on electricity...it was actually kind of weird. I'm sure you've experienced this when a bad storm makes your power go out. It's strange, because you start to realize how much you truly do rely on and take for granted the amount of electricity you use!

So what did we do tonight? We got out our candles, sat on the living room floor, and talked. For a minute or two we just kind of stared at each other. The first words out of my husband's mouth were, "Our lives are way too loud." I don't think he could have said it better. We began counting the top 10 things that we do on a daily basis, and every single one of them used electricity/technology. We tried to think of the last time we've just sat down and talked without distractions. The silence we experienced spoke volumes about our lives. We are way too busy, move way too fast through life, and have far too much "noise" in our lives. And we wonder why we're both so stressed out all the time, and can't seem to find time to relax?

Our earth hour turned into 2 hours. We weren't ready to turn the lights, busyness, stress, or noise back on quite yet. It was a nice break from reality...

What About You: Have you heard of Earth hour? Did you participate?