by Jim Branson

Once again, Burien’s government chose to ignore Earth Hour, while cities like Seattle and Chicago went to some effort to show solidarity with this global environmental movement. In this case, Burien’s elected officials and paid staff seemed to be in keeping with the mood of the electorate: Burien homeowners and businesses also ignored Earth Hour. While an estimated 80 million people around the US participated in this annual symbolic black out, only a handful of individuals in Burien saw fit to join in.

Like last year, my dogs and I turned the lights off at home and walked the streets of our small city to see how others chose to celebrate Earth Hour. We walked by about 130 homes, 80 businesses, and City Hall. Only one home (besides ours) was occupied and dark. I assumed they were participating, and that they hadn’t just forgotten to pay the electric bill. An annual event that brought out a quarter of the nation seemed to inspire les than one percent of Burien residents.

Some object to Earth Hour as being pointless and futile, but I don’t see how it is any more frivolous than anything else that humans value so highly, like, say, the Super Bowl. I enjoyed a nice walk with my dogs. The moon was nearly full and the high, thin clouds caused a ring to form around the moon. It is very peaceful and relaxing to walk along darkened streets, when car traffic is reduced to a minimum. I also enjoyed the chance to unite with people around the globe as landmarks went dark in Australia and Austria, Egypt and England, and Seattle and Chicago. I only wished that my home town would participate more, and I am puzzled that we don’t.

The lights at the City Hall/Library building seemed only about two thirds as bright as last year. I could see that a few lights had been turned off. Also, a janitorial service was busy working, so they needed some light. The sculpture in Town Square Park had many lights shining on it. My hope is that next year for Earth Hour, our leaders will take the lead and darken that entire complex for one hour in 2011. It wouldn’t cost the City any money at all. Clearly, it won’t happen if I’m the only one asking. What do other citizens of Burien think of the environmental movement in general, and Earth Hour in particular? Our local government has missed an opportunity that other city governments have taken advantage of, much like they are dropping the ball with the Shoreline Master Plan. They cut down the trees on 4th Avenue and on Des Moines Way without a peep of objection from anyone.

If Burienites care about the environment, why don’t they speak up?

If they don’t care about the environment, why not?

Someone please tell me why Burien’s citizens, businesses, and elected officials can’t be bothered to do something as simple as turning off a light switch?

Here are some photos taken by Jim showing what he saw during Earth Hour Saturday night:

Click to Play Jim Branson’s Slideshow

Earth Hour 2010 is coming up this Saturday, March 27th, starting at 8:30pm, and BTB Contributor Jim Branson wants to know: will YOU participate this year?

And what (if anything) will the City of Burien do?

Last year, the city seemingly did nothing, as far as we could tell (see our coverage here).

Here’s a challenge from Jim:

Last year the citizens, businesses, and government of Burien mostly ignored this event while cities around the world marked the occasion by turning off the lights to major landmarks and skyscrapers.

Judging by the reaction to my editorial last year, many Burien residents will want to mark the event this year by buying extra floodlights to light up the night.

During 2009's "Earth Hour," the lights were left ablaze all night at the new city hall/library building.

What will YOU do for Earth hour?

Will you turn on every light in your home and turn on the headlights to all your cars and buy extra lights to illuminate the neighborhood?

Or will you join the growing number of people trying to raise awareness of global warming and the unsustainable use of finite resources?

What will City Hall do?

Last year, every single light in the new Library/City Hall building blazed brightly even though the building hadn’t been finished, and was completely vacant at the time.

Will Burien do any better this year?

I plan to go out for a walk again, and I’ll have my camera with me.

If you’re wondering what the heck Earth Hour is, according to the organization’s website:

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour.

Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future.

For more information, visit the Earth Hour website here.

Also, here are a couple of promo videos:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Burien's new City Hall celebrates "Earth Hour" by leaving all its lights on.

by Jim Branson

Having heard about Earth Hour on the news, (it was the lead story on Google News all day), I shut off all the lights and headed out for a walk with my dogs. I expected to see a few like-minded people out enjoying the festival of darkness to save the planet. I wondered what others were doing to celebrate Earth Hour, and I speculated that there might be a spike in births recorded in hospitals around the world on December 28th.

Instead, I found the streets were empty and lights blazed in almost every home as people sat in front of their TVs. Even yards that had prominently displayed political signs for pro-environment candidates had floodlights blazing. Fewer than one home in ten appeared dark, and some of those may have been vacant. One guy, the one with the immaculate lawn that he waters all summer and mows even in the dead of winter, had all the lights in his home on, and he also had a full-size truck running in the driveway with its headlights on, aimed out into the neighborhood. I’m not sure if this was his personal statement against Earth Hour, or just his standard practice.

The dogs and I walked through Olde Burien, and I expected a few of those shops, run by people who, one would hope, tend to pay attention to what’s going on in the world, to be participating in this global event. I thought some might even use it to promote business, inviting people to enjoy a candlelight dinner, perhaps. Not only were the open businesses fully lit, but most of the closed business had their lights blazing. They seem to leave them on all night, every night. The shops of Olde Burien even had extra lights strung along the tops of the buildings. All those lights make it a cheery place, I suppose.

The real kicker was the new Town Square. It is completely vacant right now, but lights shone from every floor of the residential building. The City Hall and Library building glowed so brightly it was hard to look at. I needed sunglasses to walk by it. These lights also stay on twenty-four hours a day, even at 9:26 on a Saturday night when no one is working. Participation in Earth Hour wouldn’t necessarily save the planet or even slow global warming, but it was a chance to raise awareness and show solidarity with our fellow earthlings as we recognize that our actions make a difference.

The city of Burien, its citizens, businesses, and government, seem to be sending a different message to Planet Earth:

“We hope you die a slow and horrible death, you stupid planet.”

Way to go, Burien.

Here are some photos of how other places around the world celebrated Earth Hour:

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Branson is a longtime area resident and environmental activist. On a personal note, when "Earth Hour" rolled around at 8:30pm Saturday night, we actually turned off all the lights in our home and sat in the dark. It was not only peaceful, but it felt...different. Mostly because when we stepped out on our porch and looked around, we noticed that ours was the only "dark" house on the block. Sure, some think this is a silly exercise. And some think global warming is a bunch of hooey. We wonder if any of our Readers participated? If you did, what did you do? And if you didn't...why not? Please Comment below...]

This coming Saturday, March 28th, from 8:30pm-9:30pm will be “Earth Hour,” where all citizens of planet Earth are encouraged to turn their lights off for one full hour.

We just double-checked and determined that Burien was still part of Earth, so apparently this will include our town as well.

“Earth Hour” is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, which is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

It is projected that one billion people will go dark for Earth Hour.

Already hundreds of icons and landmarks around the world have signed up to turn their lights off for Earth Hour 2009 including:

• The Eiffel Tower in Paris
• Sydney Opera House
• Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens
• The London Eye
• Perhaps your house?

For more information, check out earthhour.org.

Here’s another video with more info:

Click here to view the embedded video.