For one hour on Saturday, March 27, 8:30 to 9:30 pm local time, you have the opportunity to join a movement.  All you have to do is switch off all non-essential lights for one hour to become part of a world-wide effort to highlight, so to speak, the issue of climate change.

Earth Hour is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund as a global effort to get people to pay attention to energy consumption and how excessive energy use contributes to global warming.  No matter which side of the climate change fence you stand on  - even if you straddle the fence - turning off non-essential lights for an hour should not be a problem for most.

Last year over 4,000 cities in 87 countries participated.  Eight U.S. states officially joined in, as did the cities of New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta.  During 2009's Earth Hour, lights went off on the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, headquarters of the UN, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Outside of the United States the Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramids of Giza, Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, and sites in Bejing, Hong Kong, Australia, and South America went dark for one hour.

So, set a reminder on your cell phone or make note on the calendar, but on Saturday night, March 27 shed a little less light on your home between 8:30 and 9:30 pm local time – doing so just might shed more light on a world-wide problem.  Personally, I'm looking forward to a hour of candlelight with my husband.