Cocktails By Candlelight: Earth Hour

Dim all the lights, sweet darling reader, for a good cause. Saturday, March 27th, at 7:30 p.m. local time, gather up some candles, find some batteries for your iPod dock, and ready your bar for Earth Hour, a global action symbolizing the need for a change in attitude about the change in climate. At 8:30 p.m., the World Wildlife Fund estimates that tens of millions in the U.S. will join you and turn off their lights for one hour.

Last year, iconic landmarks around the country flipped the switch including the Las Vegas Strip, NY’s Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, UN headquarters, and Broadway theater marquees, Golden Gate Bridge, Seattle’s Space Needle, Church of Latter-Day Saints Temple in Salt Lake City, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Sears Tower, and the the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.

More than just a national movement, in 2009, according to the WWF website, not the World Wrestling Federation - but you knew that, didn't you - hundreds of millions of people across the globe, in more than 4,000 cities in 87 countries on seven continents participated. In dramatic fashion, world beacons dimmed: the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, Big Ben and Houses of Parliament in London, Paris’ Elysee Palace and Eiffel Tower, Beijing’s Birds Nest and Water Cube, Symphony of Lights in Hong Kong, Sydney’s Opera House and Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

All well and good for environmental consciousness-raising, but what does this have to do with cocktail time? I see in my local community that many bars and restaurants are not only participating but are having fun with the idea as well. They are going dark and encouraging people to enjoy the atmosphere. Find a place near you that is making the effort. Everyone looks better in candlelight anyway.

Article Author: Kate Shea Kennon

A freelance culture and tastes writer, look for me in the last row mezzanine, obsessing on good theatre, television, and mixology, always looking for mad skills on stage and behind the stick. Contributor to Westchester Magazine, Gannett newspapers, …

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