Garden Detective

When I was a kid, I loved blackouts. I remember a really big one that knocked power out to all of New York City. Every person from every house in the neighborhood came out into the street. I remember one neighbor cutting up a watermelon and handing it out to all the kids. It was so cool to feel like we were part of a tightknit community (we weren't), making like we lived in a small town. We played hopscotch by flashlight.

I couldn't have been more than 4, but I remember it vividly. To this day, I love it when the power goes out. It forces my family to reconnect. No TV, no computers, no distractions. Some of my fondest memories spent with my kids are from the few times the power went out, playing charades by candlelight.

So I got pretty excited when I heard about Earth Hour, an event created last year by the World Wildlife Fund in Syndey, Australia, when lots of folks turned out their lights for an hour. This year, they're getting pretty ambitious, hoping it will spread across the planet.

And why not? Tonight at 8 p.m., I'll be joining the (hopefully) millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off my lights for an hour. And I'm going a step further -- turning off all the distractions. I'm planing to play charades. Heck, I might even eat some watermelon.

How much do you polute? Find out your carbon footprint with this handy calculator.

PS -- Check out Google's homepage today -- it's pretty cool! I wish I could do that on my blog.