Q&A: Why wasn't Earth Hour popular in L.A.?

Your eco-questions, answered.

Question: Would you know if LA pursued the Earth Hour?

I know I turned of my lights, but being green seems not popular in LA.... I went to Mulholland Drive and saw no dimming at 8 pm. L.A. was as bright as usual. Very few city buildings have CFLs and solar panels in general.

So why is the LAT, a pretty liberal paper, not talking about earth hour at least (besides your blog)? Must we accuse once again the bad influence of our shameful Mayor? Ed

Answer: Cheer up, Ed. It's true that L.A. perhaps burned a little too brightly during Earth Hour on Saturday, but it may simply be that we've got a little burnout on the lights out thing.

After all, just five months ago we had Lights Out LA, which urged everyone to turn out their lights from 8 - 9 pm  on Oct. 20. The city of L.A., led by Supervisor Yvonne Burke and City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, got behind that lights-out movement. You'll be glad to know that the L.A. Times -- the print paper, not only this blog -- DID cover this city effort back then.

 

Considering the fact that Earth Hour basically just repeated what Lights Out L.A. did, I'm not surprised that this deja vu didn't get as much attention in the city this time around.

That said, many people -- including both you and I, celebrated Earth Hour and turned the lights out. Great thing about grassroots actions: Government involvement's nice, but not a pre-requisite. In fact, I'm sure if both you and I worked a little more to get the word out, we could've gotten more people to turn their lights out. I'll admit I made no effort as a Santa Monica resident to get my city to sign on to Earth Hour. If I and my neighbors and friends had pushed for it, it could've happened!

Lastly: These lights out events are gonna keep happening, so even if you as an individual or your city as a whole missed the last few, you can take part in the next ones.  Rufus Wainwright, for example, is calling for a blackoutsabbath from noon to midnight on June 21. "The time could be spent contemplating alone or with friends on the coming year and what personally one can do to save the planet," he says, in his call to turn off not just the lights, but all electronics for 12 hours!

If all electronics for 12 hours seems like too much, Earth Hour 2009's already taking signups. So there's a challenge you can look forward to -- and perhaps write your councilmember about, if you're keen on city involvement.

Remember -- If you want your city to do something, you as a resident need to ask them to do that thing. I'll definitely try to get the City of Santa Monica to sign on to Earth Hour next year. Will you do the same for the City of L.A.?