Anna and I took part in Earth Hour saturday night and found it to be a lot of fun. At Wake Forest, the lights that illuminate the buildings were turned off and there was a party on Manchester Plaza. We chose a slightly more mundane approach.
We turned off all lights and unplugged all non-essential electrical devices. We lit some candles and put them on our coffee table. And we talked. It was such a wonderful experience, we’re thinking about doing it each week as part of our observance of Sabbath, an area of spiritual practice where we have plenty of room for growth!
During and after Earth Hour, a couple of observations came to mind:
- I was amazed by how bright our neighborhood is. Several of our neighbors have lights in their back yards that could alternately be used in a prison facility. For some reason, folks in our little suburban enclave like to light up vacant back yards. I was amazed at the amount of this light that spilled into our house. How much energy could be saved by simply turning off those lights?
- It’s noisy. Perhaps lessened light leads to greater sensitivity to sound. I found myself noticing how many cars pass by our house and how noisy they are…a persistent low drone in the background. It seems that we are always running hither and thither, except on Sundays.
- Light and sound is stimulating. Sometimes I find easy access to the internet and bright lighting to be an enemy to real relaxation. During our Earth hour sabbatical, I found myself experiencing a deeper level of relaxation and also wondering what it would be like to spend a week in a cabin that didn’t have electricity…call me Walden. Sounds crazy, but my father grew up in a house in urban England in the 1940s (when my house was built) that had no electricity, limited gas for lights, and no inside bathroom. It isn’t that long ago that people did without those things we perceive of as necessity in West and, of course, there are countless people today who are in the same boat.
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