VANCOUVER - Joy Hellinger plans to spend an hour on Saturday evening doing the same thing she did last year about this time: sitting with her husband in their home in Chilliwack, B.C., in the dim glow of candlelight with nothing but their conversation to pass the time.
"Turned everything off, we had candlelight and we just talked -- which was really difficult," Hellinger, a 55-year-old self-described homemaker, recalls about last year's Earth Hour.
"You're not used to that. You're used to all the other attractions around you that keep you busy, and then you have to take the time for that hour to reflect on everything around you and why you're doing it."
She'll be one of millions of people across Canada that organizers hope will flick off their light switches at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday for Earth Hour, a global campaign created by the World Wildlife Fund designed to show support for action on climate change.
Some will fire up the candles or lanterns at home, others are planning candlelight parties to mark the occasion and events are planned in cities across the country to let people party in the dark.
The iconic sails on Vancouver's Canada Place will go dark, as will Toronto's CN Tower and Halifax's harbour bridges, and municipalities are preparing to power down government buildings and other public spaces.
Canadian musician Chantal Kreviazuk is headlining an unplugged concert in Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square, and there are similar concerts and events planned in other cities.
For Hellinger, who says the campaign has encouraged her to find ways to save power, such as washing her clothing in cold water or making sure lights are off when they're not needed, taking part in Earth Hour was a no-brainer.
"It's so that everybody will be aware and paying attention (to the environment)," she says. "So that our grandchildren will have that in the future."
Earth Hour began as a local gimmick in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, when an estimated two million homes went dark.
The following year, Earth Hour was exported to nearly three dozen other countries, including Canada.
Tara Wood of the World Wildlife Fund says it's a chance for Canadians to send a message to the Canadian government that they want more done to combat climate change.
"When millions or billions of people turn out their lights for one hour, we want to use that to show world leaders that the people want action on the climate and they (politicians) are out of step," says Wood.
"We've seen very little action from the federal government, especially this year, so hopefully this is a way for the pubic to show their support and their concern."
The World Wildlife Fund says its Canadian polling indicates slightly more than half of respondents say they participated last year.
Every year, Earth Hour is followed by news stories tallying up the energy saved for 60 minutes, usually as a percentage of energy use in a province or estimates of how many light bulbs were shut off.
But Wood says the point isn't to reduce power consumption over an hour -- a feat that, no matter how impressive the numbers, wouldn't amount to much in the larger picture.
"It's definitely not about energy saved for that hour -- lighting is a very minimal portion of the overall grid and energy use," she says.
"Earth Hour is all about bringing global awareness to this issue."
As for its influence on Canadians' habits, the group conducted polling earlier this year asking Canadians to grade their energy-saving habits -- most respondents gave themselves a B -- and will repeat the survey to see if there's any change.
Earth Hour has also turned into an attractive marketing ploy, with a long list of corporations lining up to announce they'll be powering off the lights they don't need on Saturday night.
And after the hour's up, of course, they'll turn those non-essential lights back on.
Even the federal government, which environmentalists have assailed for failing to do enough to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and combat climate change, is eager to show it's doing its part.
Some of the lights on the Parliament buildings and the clock face of the Peace Tower will be shut off, and federally owned buildings across the country will also become dimmer.
Ian Bruce of the David Suzuki Foundation, which has no official role in Earth Hour, said Ottawa should see growing participation in Earth Hour as a wake-up call.
"We're seeing Canadians from all walks of life want to see leadership from our government on climate-change, and I think many Canadians are embarrassed that our emissions have skyrocketed," said Bruce.
