On Saturday night, let’s turn out the lights — early:
At 8:30 p.m., to be exact.
But before lighting a candle, go through the house and disconnect computers, alarm clocks, hairdryers. Anything that draws a current. Anything that keeps aglow.
Then make your way to the Iola square and join the crowd to revel in the eery quiet of life without all the buzz.
Though unplugged, we won’t be disconnected.
THE PURPOSE of this Earth Hour exercise is to recognize the effect our energy-dependent life-styles and industries have on the environment.
If pictures are more powerful than words, then the sight of a darkened town will speak volumes about our concern for global warming. The World Wildlife Fund is the organizer for the global event.
Locally, Abby Works, a junior at Iola High School, has been drumming up support. The enthusiastic teenager has addressed local organizations and meetings with a passionate plea for people to give a hoot.
Contrary to this unseasonably cool year in Kan-sas, the Earth is heating up. Icebergs and glaciers are melting. Alaska’s permafrost is thawing. The oceans are rising due to the melting ice, resulting in tilted continents, displaced wildlife and the extinction of marine spe-cies.
The WWF is working on four things:
* To secure a new global climate treaty that will enforce reductions in the emission of greenhouse gas pollution, primarily carbon dioxide.
* To reduce deforestation. Fifteen percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from the massive deforestation occuring in Borneo and in the Amazon. During their lifetimes, trees absorb carbon dioxide. When a forest is cut, those great gas sponges are missing.
* To work with industries to reduce dirty emissions.
* To help communities and ecosystems repair the damage already done. An example is to plant trees along Caribbean beaches in an effort to save sea turtles that have been impacted by a warmer climate.
THANKS TO Works, Iola has the most Earth Hour participants of any city in Kansas.
Saturday’s “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” activities on the square will include the lighting of 60 luminaries by area Boy Scouts. Guitarists Tyler and Kyle Shelby will perform “unplugged.” Glow-in-the-dark frisbees and necklaces will be distributed. And walkers equip-ped with flashlights will circle the square. For those registered for the ongoing Walk Kansas effort it’s a great way to get those minutes in.
Businesses around the square are being asked to show their support by having their lights on before the 8:30 p.m. kickoff, and then to turn them off at the designated time in a symbolic gesture.
Lots of locals have shown their support for Works, including Iola schools, Realtor John Brocker who paid for the printing of Earth Hour posters, KIKS/KIOL radio for plugging the event, and Citizens Bank, the Bowlus Fine Arts Center and Jump Start for using their electronic displays and signs to draw people’s eyes to the event.
“I’m so afraid no one is going to show up for the un-lighting ceremony,” Miss Works said in an e-mail this morning.
Predicted rain could be a damper to turnout.
“But no matter what happens, I will consider this project a success, because the message about the importance of energy conservation has spread throughout our community, and I’ve learned a lot about the hard work that goes into planning a big community event.”
GRAB AN umbrella. Put on your galoshes. And let’s show Miss Works that we appreciate her efforts in making us better stewards of our precious Earth.
— Susan Lynn
