use less energy

Tomorrow, February 1, support this French initiative to give the planet a rest from electrical energy use for a full five minutes - between 10:55 am and 11:00 am.
Participate in the biggest mobilization of Citizens Against Global Warming! The Alliance for the Planet [a group of environmental associations] is calling on all Planet Earth citizens to create 5 minutes of electrical rest for the planet. http://www.lalliance.fr
People all over the world will turn off their lights and electrical appliances on the first of February 2007, between 1.55 pm and 2.00 pm in New York, 18.55 for London, and 19.55 for Paris, Bruxelles, and Italy. 1.55pm in Ottawa, and 10.55am on the Pacific Coast of North America. This is not just about saving 5 minutes worth of electricity; it's about getting the attention of the media, politicians, and ourselves. Why five minutes of electrical down time for the planet on February 1? Because this is the day when the new UN report on global climate change will come out in Paris. This event affects us all, involves us all, and provides an occasion to show how important an issue global warming is to us. If we all participate, this action can have real media and political weight.

While the Tories like to deride the Grits for their apparent and appaling progress on climate change, I actually think that the One Tonne Challenge was not a bad idea. Sure if everyone were to reduce their personal CO2 emissions by a single tonne it would only make up about 1/4 to 1/3 of Canada’s commitments for Kyoto but that is a lot better than what the Tories have planned!

I think that we Canadians, hell everyone in the global community (developed nations in particular), should take it upon ourselves and make our own One Tonne Challenge. To reduce our personal emissions by one tonne is actually pretty easy so we could even go for the Two Tonne challenge and meet a more significant portion of our Kyoto commitments. To help people track their progress we could even setup an online application to track everyones progress - maybe even share or trade some fictional “Kyoto Kredits”.