In the dark

I engaged in a little experiment this past weekend. As I'm hoping most of you know, Saturday evening was Earth Hour, and since last year it was so easy, I wanted to push myself to do something a little harder. Electricity is something we tend to take for granted because it's just always there. I wondered what my life would be like with rolling blackouts or EMP (a good book, btw, even if Gingrich did recommend it). Declaring it Earth "Weekend", I decided to find out (sort of). I flipped all the breakers to off when I got home Friday night and left them that way the entire weekend.

















Was I successful? Yes...at least in the sense that I didn't cheat. Once those breakers were flipped, I didn't turn them back on. Actually, I forgot to turn them back on as I left this morning, so technically I'm still participating ;-)

Candlelight provided light to read and write by. Natural sunlight during the day afforded me the ability to wash my dishes by hand, rip apart a couple of chairs I want to redo, and read without fear of straining my eyes.















However, if I'm honest with myself (and with you), I will readily admit that I, in no way, know what it's like to live without electricity. While I reveled in the stillness of an apartment without TV or music and embraced a "come what may" attitude about my hair sans flat iron, I could still escape to a world that was very much wired and alive. I stole away to the apartment business center for wifi and an outlet to charge my phone. I went to the movies and to Steven's concert and out to dinner (try cooking without electricity). I was never truly inconvenienced in the way I would be if our resources ever ran out.
























*all images from WeHeartIt.