Agave nectar, Michelle Obama and Earth Hour

Here are some things I've written about recently that I thought you'd be interested in.

I've been using agave nectar as a substitute for sugar in some places recently (like this peanut butter chocolate chip granola bar recipe). I wrote about agave today over on MNN - Agave nectar: a sweet alternative. Check it out if you'd like to know more about this natural sweetener.

By now, you probably know that the Obamas are planting an organic garden on the White House Lawn. Michelle Obama has been talking organic, local, and healthy lately, and I'm becoming a fan of the first lady. 

I've been completely fascinated by the comments people are leaving on my MNN posts about the subject and many other posts around the web. They are anywhere from highly enthusiastic to downright racist to highly nitpicky about the method that's being used.  It can be both infuriating and extremely fascinating at the same time. 

Over on Sustainablog, I've got a post about Making the Most of Earth Hour with some ideas that go beyond just turning out the lights. Remember, Earth Hour is this Saturday night. 

Tomorrow, I'll be reviewing a product for you that actually got me doing a little housework and I hope to have my next interview for you on Thursday.

Happy Monday!

Sign up for Earth Hour

Last year, my family and I participated in Earth Hour. It's one hour when people volunteer to turn off all the lights in their home. We played Monopoly by candle light. It was fun. While we the only ones in my area participating that I knew about, across the world, communities turned off off their lights. 

You might wonder what one hour can do. Look at what happened in one hour last year.

Chicago kept 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
In Canada, there were significant savings in energy, including an 8.7% reduction in Toronto.
In Manilla, Earth Hour was hailed a huge success as power companies saw a huge dent in consumption.
Melbourne had an impressive 10.1% drop in energy usage.

This year, Earth Hour 2009 is on March 28th (thanks to Adam at Twilight Earth for reminding me). You can go to their website and sign up to participate by volunteering to turn all your lights off between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. You can also organize your community to join in and have your friends and neighbors participate, too. 

My family will be doing Earth Hour on March 27th because we have a fundraiser to help a family in need in our town on the 28th. 

What about you? What will your family be doing that night? Will it be in the dark?