Just doing my bit...

I'm a bit late on this one really and should have mentioned it earlier, but yesterday evening I took part in earth hour. Not heard about it? No surprise really as it didn't seem to get much media coverage. I just happened to read something about it on... well, you know where.

The idea was that everyone, wherever they are in the world, should vote earth by turning their lights off for one hour from 8:30 to 9:30pm and I went for it whole heartedly. When the time came, off went the lights, TV, DVD player, cable set top box; I even unplugged the laptop and ran it on battery power for an hour. I'm not too sure what I achieved as I'm already quite frugal with the power I use and I doubt any global leaders were peering in with concern to see how fast my meter was spinning. At the very best I've maybe saved a few pence of my next electric bill.

I also read this morning of another eco-initiative, but I can already state categorically that I will not be taking part. Monday 27th April marks the start of Walk to Work Week 2009. Now I'm all for contributing towards a good cause, but this goes a bit above and beyond the call for me.

At a steady 3.5 mph it would take me 10.5 hours to get to work, that's 21 hours both ways leaving me 3 hours to spend at the office (where presumably I would feel the need for sleep, or maybe grab a bite to eat). Were I to step the pace up to a 5.5mph jog, then I would only travelling for 13 hours of the day.

Now by coincidence, my daily running machine programme alternates between both of the above mentioned speeds (albeit on a steady incline) but I usually find that after the first mile or two, I've pretty much had enough. Now that would barely get me to the neighbouring village let alone to work, Not to mention the harmful CO2 I would be exhaling in huge quantities along the way.

The Americans and Australians have a much more modest approach with a walk to work day. At least that way I could just take the day off...