Will You Turn Off Your Lights for Earth Hour?

An annual event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour encourages individuals worldwide to show their support for the fight against climate change.

Last year, 1.8 billion people in 152 countries and almost 7,000 cities participated. Thirty-nine per cent of Canadians -- or 13 million people in 511 cities nationwide -- joined in. 

This year, Earth Hour begins at 8:30 p.m on Saturday, March 23rd. Millions of Canadians are expected to turn off their lights...will you be one of them?

During last year's Earth Hour, power use in Toronto dropped almost 7 per cent.

In support of Earth Hour, Monarch Kitchen & Bath Centre will be holding an EARTH WEEKEND at their head office in Pickering. At 5 p.m. tomorrow, Monarch will turn off their lights until 9 a.m. on Monday, March 25th. Only essential lighting will be turned on during business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m) on Saturday, March 23rd.

 You CAN make a difference.

To learn more, visit www.earthhour.org.

EARTH HOUR COUNTDOWN: One Planet Living's 10 Top Tips for Changing How We Travel to Help the Earth

As we continue our countdown to Earth Hour on Saturday, March 23^rd, 2013 at 8:30 p.m., here are some tips for reducing your ecological footprint while traveling.

One Planet Living’s 10 Top Tips for Changing How We Travel to Help the Earth

1. save money by reducing car use, especially for short journeys (eg less than 3 km)
2. walk and cycle more - it’s free!
3. avoid unnecessary travel - is that meeting really necessary, or can it be done over the phone/internet?
4. use public transport instead of the car - keeping a car is a huge drain on the household budget even before you start the engine
5. car share if driving is unavoidable - it will halve costs, as well as halving your carbon footprint
6. buy the smallest car that fits your needs - It will be cheaper to run, cheaper to tax, cheaper to insure as well as being more environmentally friendly
7. switch off your engine while stationary - you will save on fuel costs as well as CO2 emissions
8.  take holidays closer to home - a local holiday could be a lot cheaper and less stressful, and avoids lengthy waits at airport check-in and security
9.  fly less, avoiding short haul flights (less than 500km) wherever possible
10. offset your flight emissions if air travel is unavoidable

Are you interested in doing more to help? Click here to take the One Planet Challenge! Their calculator will measure your ecological footprint and carbon emissions and provide you with a personalized action plan packed with practical things you can do to achieve One Planet Living and make it easier for you to shrink your footprint.

EARTH HOUR COUNTDOWN: Take the One Planet Challenge!

Monarch Kitchen & Bath Centre is counting down to Earth Hour – Saturday, March 23rd, 2013 – with tips on how you can make small changes that have a huge impact on the future of our planet.

Did you know…

• lighting accounts for up to 15% of your electricity bill?
• that by replacing normal bulbs with energy efficient ones can save you up to 70% on the cost of lighting?
• up to a third of your household heat will escape through an uninsulated loft?
• double-glazing can save you money by reducing heat lost through your windows by half?

Today’s tips (courtesy of One Planet Living) involve changing your habits in the home.

One Planet Living’s 10 Top Tips for Changing What We Do In the Home to Help the Earth

1. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use
2. Invest in cavity wall and loft insulation can lower your bills
3. Use energy efficient lights and appliances – they make a huge difference to your electricity bill
4. Switching to a green tariff is now easier than ever
5. Insulating the hot water tank and lagging hot water pipes will cut down on wasted energy and save you money
6. Turning down the thermostat by just one degree will still leave you feeling warm and comfortable, but could cut your energy bills by as much as 10%
7. Draught-proofing your home and drawing your curtains at night is a simple yet effective way to cut costs
8. Fit a water meter and a flush saver and see the difference it makes to your water bill
9. Collect rainwater in a barrel and use it to water the lawn
10. Encourage wildlife by leaving a wild area in your garden

Interested in doing more to help? Click here to take the OnePlanet Challenge!

Take the One Planet Challenge

Their calculator will measure your ecological footprint and carbon emissions and provide you with a personalized action plan packed with practical things you can do to achieve One Planet Living and make it easier for you to shrink your footprint.

EARTH HOUR COUNTDOWN: One Planet Living's 10 Top Tips for Changing What We Eat to Help the Earth

At Monarch Kitchen & Bath Centre, we believe companies must conduct sustainable business practices and be responsible stewards of the environment.

Professionally and personally, our team members are committed to reducing their ecological footprint. As we count down to Earth Hour on Saturday, March 23rd, 2013, we will be reviewing ways we can be kinder our planet with tips from One Planet Living, a division of World Wildlife Fund.

According to One Planet Living, if we carry on living the way we are now, by 2035, we will need to find second planet – identical to Earth – to meet our growing demands for energy and resources.

From One Planet Living: 

We need to change the way we live, work and play. Today. We each have an average ecological footprint of 2.7 hectares – which means that everyone on the planet uses on average 2.7 hectares of the world’s surface to supply us with food, fuel, and materials to clothe and shelt us. But the planet has just 2.1 hectares of land and sea to go around… 

In other words, we are living in serious ecological debt. And it is a debt which is growing EVERY DAY. 

As the world’s climate heats up, fish stocks disappear, forests are destroyed and biodiversity declines, one thing is clear: we face a massive global ecological credit crunch. But our debt to the earth is one that no-one can afford.” 

One Planet Living is about enjoying a high quality of life within our fair share of the earth’s resources. One Planet Living is a model based on ten simple principles which provide a framework to make sustainable living easy and affordable for all:

• Zero carbon 

• Zero waste

• Sustainable transport

• Sustainable materials

• Local and sustainable food

• Sustainable water

• Land use and wildlife

• Culture and community

• Equity and local economy

• Health and happiness

What can you do? WWF has researched a set of Ten Top Tips that offer suggestions about small changes we can make to the way we live, work and play.

One Planet Living’s 10 Top Tips for Changing What We Eat to Help the Earth

1. food that is in season is tastier - and costs less to process and package
2. cut down on meat and dairy produce - the rising cost of grain production is making prices soar
3. waste less food - the US Department of Agriculture says Americans throw out 11 million pounds of fruit and vegetables every year. Only buy what you will actually eat
4. compost organic waste - create free, fertile soil to grow your own food in.
5. buy fairly traded goods - and help over 7 million farmers, rural workers and their families in 58 developing countries
6. buy local food - it costs less to transport
7. try growing your own fruit and vegetables - for the same price as your weekly shopping bill you could buy enough seeds to supply you with your own fresh, organic vegetables all-year round
8. avoid heavily processed products - fresh food costs less to produce, and therefore costs you less
9. drink tap water, not bottled water - its free!
10. buy MSC certified fish and fish products - the MSC label guarantees they have been fished sustainably