Earth Hour is on Saturday 26 March  from 20:30 to 21:30.  It is one of those things that can easily be dismissed as futile gesture politics. After all, what earthly difference is switching all your lights off for an hour going to make?

Well, hopefully the commitment you make by turning your lights (and televisions and computers) off for an hour will help to solidify in you the knowledge that you can make a difference to the world, and that the choices you make will have an effect on this world. Turning your lights off, or leaving every light in the house on, is your choice to make. Just as most other things in life are your choice to make. It is your choice as to whether you walk to the shops to buy a loaf of bread, or get the car out for a two-minute journey. You can make choices every day that will affect the future of the planet for good or ill.

Turning your lights off for an hour is an easy choice to make, but hopefully it will help you when the more difficult choices come along.

And if we all turn all our lights off, including the street lights, we might even get to see the stars.