voluntary blackout

Here's an idea I really like. Eight to nine in the evening--prime television time--is a perfect hour to voluntarily scrap your electricity use. Dinner's finished, so you don't need to cook; it's after dark, so you can't read without artificial light...what on earth will people do?!? Play a game? Go for a walk? Maybe even--gasp--talk to their housemates or their neighbors! Ok, sorry about the sarcasm. But really. It does seem like an impressive stretch to me, because it's so far outside of what people are usually doing at that hour. In our house, I'm usually reading (by energy-efficient lightbulbs, of course, but still) and my husband is reading on his laptop. The neighbors are either doing homework or watching television. So what would we be doing if we turned out the lights?

Well, there are a lot of cockroaches on the sidewalks at that hour, but I still think a walk would be a nice option. Of course there are always games that don't require seeing anything--word games or guessing games. (Actually, I bet Mafia would be really fun in the dark.) We could pray, or sing, or play guitar, although Matt's electric keyboard would be off limits. Sleeping, of course, is the easiest solution, and although I don't usually go to bed that early, there are definitely evenings when I wouldn't mind. And there are always other interesting things to do in the dark when you're a newlywed couple. :-)

Nonetheless, I have to admit it: giving up electricity for my prime reading hour would be a real challenge for us--and we call ourselves environmentalists. So I have to hand it to San Francisco for doing it, and to LA for trying it: I'm impressed.

Nationwide lights-out hour in March? I'm definitely in.