On the evening of March 26 a few minutes before earth hour my wife and I turned off all the electrical consumers in our home and went for a drive to the beach in Qualicum Beach.
We were impressed with all those who participated during this time, as it shows that people are willing to try and do something to help our planet .
Lights blinked off along the seawall and throughout the town, listening to the car radio we heard that even in Las Vegas the large hotels and casino’s were shutting off there lights. That is quite impressive.
Heading back up the hill I noticed a large glow in the sky and we went to look for the un-power conscious culprit.
It wasn’t hard to believe what facility was causing the glow as we have lived in the town for many years and I have commented to a few in the past that this facility is lit up every night, all night, 365 nights of the year.
I know that having some light on helps discourage vandalism, but there are way better ways to protect your personal property than having on so much illumination with the price of power being so high and according to reports going up still further .
While I think it’s their money, maybe it is yours and mine, because just maybe when we pay our hydro bill it helps cover their blatant waste of power.
It has taken me a few days to get up the nerve to write this and maybe in time I will write another letter to their head office . In the meantime, good job to the rest of the participants during earth hour 2011. It may not be much, but it has to help.
And to BC Hydro on Fern Road, turn off some lights and lead by example because the example you are showing right now isn’t impressive.
Graham Alexander
Qualicum Beach