PCW Memorial Observatory – Erika Rix

Earth Hour. Have you heard of it before reading this? If so, do you understand what it is?

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Australia and the Leo Burnett Worldwide, in 2004, collaborated to bring global climate awareness to Australians. In March 2007, “The inaugural Earth Hour is held in Sydney Australia 7.30pm – 8.30pm, 2.2 million Sydneysiders and 2,100 businesses participate.” The idea was to reduce energy consumption by simply turning off all non-essential lighting for one hour at a proposed time and date. By doing this, it would bring people together as a community to show and act on a desire to protect our planet during (and continuing after) the Earth Hour event. October, that same year, San Fransisco ran their own version of Earth Hour after being inspired by the Sydney event. As word spread, so did the participation around the world.

“Uniting people to protect the planet

The world is using the equivalent of one and a half planets to support life on Earth. WWF’s Earth Hour was born out of a hope that this could change. At 8.30pm on 23 March hundreds of millions of people will turn off their lights for one hour, on the same night, all across the world in a huge, symbolic show of support.

It is a unique annual phenomenon that focuses the world’s attention on our amazing planet, and how we need to protect it.”

~ WWF 2013

I encourage you to read the message and watch the video from Andy Ridley, CEO & Co-Founder of Earth Hour, that can be found at this link:  Message from Andy – Earth Hour. Also, next time you see an envelope in the mail with a black and white panda logo on it, please take the time to open it. It’s an organization near and dear to my heart.

Outreach Chair Dawn Davies

I’m very thankful to belong to an astronomy club that actively participates in and promotes events like this, light pollution, as well as public awareness and education concerning our important roll in preserving the night skies. We have a wonderful outreach chair, Dawn Davies, who spends countless hours organizing these events to provide avenues for us to reach out to the public. Last night, the Austin Planetarium and the University of Texas at Austin’s Astronomical Students Association collaborated with the Austin Astronomical Society in celebration of Earth Hour. Thanks to Dawn’s efforts, we were able to set up in front of Austin’s City Hall. What a wonderful opportunity and a thoroughly enjoyable evening! The Austin Planetarium Mobile Dome was there as well as Steve and Crystal Bosbach with the IDA. We also had 5 telescopes for both nighttime and solar viewing, binoculars, the “City Dark” documentary and lots of terrific company and discussions during the course of the evening.

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~ by Erika Rix on March 24, 2013.

Posted in Austin (AAS), Earth Hour, Light Pollution, Outreach/Star Parties
Tags: AAS, austin city hall, conservation, earth hour