Candle Night

Candle Night is an international celebration usually held during the summer solstice or winter solstice. Celebrants, turn off their electric lights, light candles and enjoy various activities such as sharing a candlelit meal with family and friends or attending one of the Candle Night events hosted by their city. It was begun in 2003 by a group of conservation-minded individuals living in Japan, calling themselves the Sloth Club. Since that time it has grown into an international celebration that promotes low-tech, conservation orientated lifestyles. A description of Candle Night was included in a recent editorial written by Renee Loth on March 30, 2007 in the Boston Globe:

"
Candle Night has been embraced in part because it mitigates the grim, eat-your-peas aspect of responsible energy use. ‘It's not rigid, and it's kind of romantic,’ said Edahiro. ‘You can enjoy that two hours any way you wish.’ It operates with a loose, voluntary, 21st century spirit of networking; joiners can log on to the website (candle-night.org) [http://www.candle-night.org] and post their own activities, possibly using Google Maps to pinpoint the event and share messages with others.

The small personal gestures relentlessly promoted in Japan -- recycling, ‘lights down,’ wearing thermal underwear -- may not be as effective as fuel-efficient cars or green buildings, but they help build public consensus for the larger campaigns. Rather than gripe about lifestyle sacrifices, for a few nights at least, many people seem eager to light a candle and bless the darkness.