Why on earth not?
Greetings earthlings! I've always wanted to say that. Don't worry, I don't actually believe there's life on other planets, despite a recent doco on usually reputable TV channel which argued too many people claim they've been abducted by aliens for it not to be true. As if that made for a watertight case!
Too many people claim they're "not under the affluence of incohol, occifer" while completely lashed and in charge of a motorised vehicle every Christmas, but does that mean it's true? No, it does not. It just means they're a) lying or b) sweetly optimistic (as only the trolleyed can be) that their irresistible charm will win through in any situation.
Personally the nearest I have ever come to an alien abduction was the time I accidentally signed up for a forum on the application of nano-technology to textiles in the auto industry... The words "smart polymers" (or even "auto" for Gucci's sake!) should have rung alarm bells but I must have thought they'd developed a cheap cocktail dress that could recite the recipe for the perfect Pina Colada or something... So I found myself, heels and handbag aloft, stumbling across the grassy verges of some far flung university campus.
All this in order to drink weak tea out of plastic cups with a group of earnest hominids (wearing large spectacles and polyester suits and calling each other Dr Derek Wormsley, Dr Ron Thistlethwaite and Dr Digby Salter) while pretending I knew and cared about wearable direct biofeedback devices. When I returned to Earth I wondered if the whole episode had been a dream... but I digress.
The reason for my "Greetings earthlings" shtick is that "Earth Hour" will soon be upon us. If you don't know about Earth Hour you probably weren't in Sydney on the evening of March 31 last year, when 2.2 million people and over 2000 businesses turned off their lights for one hour. Or if you were in Sydney and thought the whole thing was caused by that last tequila, I'm here to tell you you were wrong; this blackout was real.
The idea was, of course, to raise awareness of global warming and the importance of energy saving. Earth Hour 07 reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2 per cent for one hour and was so successful that numerous world cities, including Melbourne, are now gearing up to stage Earth Hour 2008 on March 29 at 8pm.
To date around 10,000 people and over 400 businesses have signed up through the earthhour.org.au website, while in Melbourne Ann Morrison, head of PR firm AMPR has been charged with getting the fashion industry on board. And readers, sign up you should. If Earth really is the only planet anywhere containing human life (as well as Dr Derek Wormsley et al, Paris Hilton and the Olsen twins) isn't it time we made the biggest fashion statement of 2007 by contributing to its future?
By Kat Walker