Earth Hour 2010
It’s as simple as a flick of the switch.

What began in 2007 as a campaign to get Sydneysiders to turn their lights off, has grown to become one of the world’s biggest climate change initiatives. In 2010, at 8.30pm on March 27, people around the world will turn their lights for one hour – Earth Hour. Join more than 1 billion people who, together, can reinvigorate our fight against human-induced climate change.

By Dr. Jonathan Harrington, author of The Climate Diet: How You Can Cut Carbon, Cut Costs and Save the Planet (Earthscan 2008).

Virtually all religions embrace once central moral tenet, do no harm. In America parents, preachers and teachers endlessly drum this age old mantra into our heads. You would be hard pressed to find someone who is willing to admit that they don’t care about harming others. However, our actions often tell a different story. This is certainly true in the case of global warming. Most scientists agree that our high consumption, fossil-fuel using lifestyles are spewing so much CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that it is literally warming our world. Americans are collectively responsible for producing more than 20 tones of CO2 per person per year (vs. the world average of less than 4 tons per person). Each one of us bears some responsibility for global warming, and its effects are becoming more apparent every day, especially in less economically wealthy parts of our planet.

Global warming. The subject seems to be coming up a lot these days. Extreme weather events are becoming more common. Fertile land is morphing into desert. Each year seems hotter than the next. In fact, global mean temperatures increased significantly during the past century and scientists predict that they could climb 6^o F - 11.5^o F by 2100 with bigger increases in the North America.

What is the main culprit behind global warming? We are. Our overuse of carbon-based energy sources like coal, natural gas and oil contributes to the greenhouse gases that are warming our world. Each year humans collectively spew around 55 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases (CO₂e) into the atmosphere. On average, Americans contribute about 20 tonnes per person to the tally. Twenty tonnes! The result is that the Earth’s paper thin layer of heat trapping gases is becoming too dense.

by Jonathan Harrington

With each passing day, and despite or current economic problems, the warming of our one and only planet continues unabated. Everyone is talking about it: major news organizations, Hollywood elites, congressmen and members of parliament, presidents and prime ministers have finally joined the chorus of experts and activists who have long worried about this global threat. Concerned citizens, from the concrete canyons of Shanghai to the arid flatlands of Alice Springs, Australia are also fast coming to the realization that something is just not right with our planet’s climate. Weird weather patterns are popping up everywhere. The frequency and intensity of hurricanes is increasing.