Shopping in the Dark: Earth Hour in Vancouver

If you happened to be out strolling the streets from 8pm to 9pm on Saturday, you may have noticed a number of stores either turning off their lights or closing shop entirely in support of Earth Hour.

Mainly Organics, an organic food store on Main street, locked its doors for the hour, but its sister store on the same block, Cinephile Video, stayed open. With some parts of the store cast in almost complete darkness, employees doled out hand crank powered lanterns and flashlights to assist customers in browsing their film selection.

(more photos after the jump)

Earth Hour may seem a bit gimmicky, but it arguably does help to spread awareness of conservation issues. The lack of lighting in Cinephile invariably prompted questions from almost every customer as they entered the store. Whether the event actually saves energy to any significant degree, however, is questionable.

If you look closely at the picture below, you'll see the movie Dark Days on the shelf -- an appropriate rental given the circumstances at the time. My friends and I elected for something lighter though.