Canadians urged to turn off the lights for Earth Hour CBC website

Turn off your lights tonight between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.

That's all that the supporters of Earth Hour 2012 are asking you to do.

It's easier than you'd think—fun, even. I blogged about my family's activities last year (Standing in the Dark: Earth Hour 2011) and the year before (Earth Hour 2010). The event is supposed to make us all think about our electricity use and little things we could do to reduce it.

If you'd like to have fun with just the light of the stars, you may want to take advantage of Public Star Night tonight from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. in Fish Creek Park by the Royal Astronomical Society and Fish Creek Provincial Park (it's FREE and there will be BIG telescopes).

Click on the links below for more information on Earth Hour 2012 and events taking place in Calgary tonight:

Earth Hour events in Calgary aimed at raising awareness of global warming: Calgarians asked to minimize energy consumption for one hour on Saturday night Calgary Herald

WWF Earth Hour info page

Will you turn out the lights tonight? I'd love to hear about your Earth Hour 2012 plans in the comments below!

Imagine a Calgary street festival that celebrates cycling culture, with tons of live music from local bands, fitness and yoga classes, belly dancing, bike tune-ups and workshops, a kids area, mandala painting, a fun bike procession AND a slow bike race with five Olympic athletes, all along the length of a beautiful river. You’ve just imagined Bow River Flow, as planned for this Sunday, August 21^st.

This is the third year for the festival, which takes place largely along Memorial Drive, and which is designed to get communities out on their bike, skateboard or scooter, celebrating local culture, and re-envisioning how we use public spaces, like roads.

All you’re consuming is the experience – it’s not a shopping event; it’s totally non-commercialized, without a vendor in sight. That lends a really different dynamic to the day, putting the focus squarely on fun activities and meeting people in your community – and celebrating human-powered transportation!

Check out these two amazing books on feats of human-powered travel:

Beyond the Horizon: the Great Race to Finish the First Human-Powered Circumnavigation of the Planet by Colin Angus

Pedaling to Hawaii: A Human-Powered Odyssey by Stevie Smith

One lottery ticket, a pet carrier, a pair of shoes, and of course, lots of wrappers and plastic. These are just some of the things we found along the Elbow River in Mission during Calgary’s 44^thAnnual Pathway and River Clean Up. Those were pretty tame findings compared to other teams, who found a rubber flying pig and a vintage tin filled with antique buttons.

Staff from the Central Library, along with family and friends, put on their gloves, grabbed their garbage bags and headed out to stoop and scoop up garbage along the river between the 4^th Street bridge and the 25^th Avenue bridge last Sunday.

After an hour of scouring the riverbank we had accumulated 13 bags of garbage and two bags of recyclables. That sounds like a lot, but it was a vast improvement over last year when we collected 25 garbage bags from the same section of river. Perhaps the new boulevard erected along the river by the Cliff Bungalow-Mission Community Association is encouraging people to stop and smell the flowers instead of throwing garbage on them!

The folks at the Arusha Centre and Calgary Dollars want to give you money. Come up with a plan to create social and/or environmental justice in Calgary, apply for a Take Action Grant and you could walk away with the funds to make your plan a reality.

Past TAG recipients have created projects to promote bike transportation, to increase awareness of climate change issues, to promote pesticide-free parks, and to create a cookbook designed for organizations and businesses to distribute to those who are reliant on food hampers.

You can learn more about how to apply for a TAG, meet past recipients and learn from their success stories at the next Calgary Dollars Potluck, Wednesday, May 12 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association.

Calgary Dollars Potlucks are a fun (and tasty!) way to meet others who are involved in the local green community, while plugging into the local currency scene at the same time.