OneHourNoPower

Why OHNP? Like most people I’m concerned about climate change, the impact it’s going to have on my future and more importantly, the future of my children. Like most people I do my bit, I recycle my bottles and papers, use a few energy efficient light bulbs and turn off the TV stand-by before going to bed. Like most people I know this isn’t really enough, but it’s a hectic world with lots of other stuff to do and worry about.

In short, I’m no tree-hugging green activist. This is best illustrated by saying that the inspiration for One Hour No Power struck whilst I was listening to the radio in my car having just dropped the kids off at school. A news report came on announcing the fact that a global music event called Live Earth would be taking place across five continents on July 7 th 2007 in order to raise awareness of the threats posed by global warming. Whilst I commend anyone who does something to make the world a better place, I couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t the most carbon neutral of ideas ever. Surely the hundreds of musicians, hundreds of thousands of spectators at the venues and the global television audience of tens of millions would leave a massive carbon footprint?

It was then that the energy efficient light bulb popped on over my head and I came up with an idea that used no power whilst still demonstrating our concerns for global warming. However, One Hour No Power was never designed as a purely, power-saving exercise but as an opportunity to ‘switch off’ from our busy world and think about changes that we could make in our everyday lives that would lessen our impact on the planet.

This simple, non-commercial campaign was started with a bunch of emails, a page on MySpace and a website. It soon became a people-powered event, with word spreading rapidly via online communities, forums and blogs; capturing the imagination of people in the US, Canada, Brazil, UK, Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Spain, Portugal, India, Dubai, Australia and New Zealand.

I hope that the idea of One Hour No Power will continue to be used by individuals and groups, so that changes, (however small,) can be made to our lifestyles that will help the environment.