Turn off the lights, turn off the lights

So you know all that global warming stuff? No need to worry, I found the solution! Toronto. That's right, Toronto is going to save the Earth. Now before you think I'm going crazy, all I have to say is: You weren't here for Earth Hour.

The one-hour around-the-world event was probably barely noticed in many major cities but in Toronto, this was a highly anticipated spectacle, complete with a countdown that immediately induced a desire in me to kiss someone and start drinking champagne.

For weeks leading up to these 60 minutes of darkness, newspapers printed stories about how Canadians will spend Earth Hour ("I'll have a candlelight dinner with my wife," or "We'll watch hockey in the dark" or something like that).

Canada was proud to claim more Earth Hour participating cities than any country, Ontario was proud to claim more participating communities than any other province, and Toronto was proud to claim its airport was the first to sign up for Earth Hour - which made me visualize a bunch of air-traffic controllers working by candlelight and made me grateful I was not flying anywhere near the T-dot at the time.

Yesterday, when Earth Hour would take place from 8-9 p.m., the entire 10-pound weekend newspaper was covered in Earth Hour logos. Every section of the newspaper - from 'condos' and 'living' to 'wheels,' 'sports' and 'ideas' was dedicated to Earth Hour.

The paper's approximately 50 environmental reporters delivered tips on saving the environment that went on for pages, such as 'Buy a smaller house, it uses less energy' to 'Do not use a green bin only in the kitchen, put it in the bathroom so you can also recycle paper towels and toe nail clippings.' (trust me, I could not make this up). By the time I got done looking through the paper, I felt guilty about having the reading light on.

There was a also a concert for Earth Hour in downtown Toronto featuring - you'll never guess - Nelly Furtado. With her "Turn off the lights, turn off the lights" verse still echoing in my ears, I had no choice but to turn off the lights and go to sleep.