Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message grew into a global movement  Fifty million people turned off their lights to show their support for sustainablility. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome's Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

On March 28, at 8:30 pm local time, one billion people will go dark for Earth Hour. World Wildlife Fund 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. 1,760 cities, towns and municipalities in 80 countries have already committed to turning off the lights for Earth Hour 2009.

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 and The London Eye, among many others.

Here are some suggestions of ways to spend Earth Hour and reduce your carbon footprint:

1. Attend a local Earth Hour event or organize your own by throwing an Earth Hour street party with your   neighbors
2. Gather family & friends for a night picnic in your local park and look at the stars
3. Enjoy a family dinner by candlelight
4. Organisz a treasure hunt in the dark
5. Take the dog for a night walk
6. Have a candle-lit bath
7. Sit in the dark and share stories
8. Organize a family night playing games
9. Share a romantic night in with your loved one

To quote from the Earth Hour information page, " Families with young children should feel free to turn their lights off earlier than 8:30pm and for those having too much fun in the dark during the hour, don't feel you have to limit yourself to one hour and switch back on at 9:30pm."

To find out more about Earth Hour, visit the official website www.earthhour.org, sign up and join millions of people in more than 1,400 cities and towns in 80 countries throughout the world by turning off your lights for one hour at 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March.

I particularly like the first two sugestions. Since we have so much great dark sky here in New Mexico some of us may want to combine those two activities. If you know someone with a telescope ask them about a Star Party for the Messier Marathon. Charles Messier was an 18th century comet seeker. To aid his exploration, he assembled a list of objects in the sky that appeared to be comets but were not. There are 110 Messier objects numbered from M1 to M110. The link will take you to the website of TAAS -The Albuquerque Astronomical Society and more information including a list of the Messier Objects.