The first cities have dimmed their lights for what is hoped to be an annual awareness event on climate change: Earth Hour, an hour of darkness to remind the populace of the impact of global warming.
The movement began a year ago in Australia and has now spread world-wide, with the first cities already dimming their lights between 8-9pm local time:
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — The iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge went dark Saturday night as Sydney became the world’s first major city to turn off its lights for this year’s Earth Hour, a global campaign to raise awareness about climate change.
Thousands of homes were dark for an hour in Christchurch, New Zealand. The famed Wat Arun Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand switched off its lights.
The three major cities were among 23 worldwide, along with 300 smaller towns, taking part in Earth Hour — a campaign by environmental group WWF to highlight the need to conserve energy and fight global warming.
“This provides an extraordinary symbol and an indication that we can be part of the solution” to global warming, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett told Sky News television.
More below the jump…
On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund. Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour.
We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)-whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.
8 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
at this link (See if your city is on the list. If not, there are links to sites where you can participate).
Ta!
Thanks stormy!
I hope this shows an ability to sustian gains in momentum….
we need something hypercyclic to catch here pretty soon….
some meme which has a strong attraction for the worlds listening….
you posted this, Stormchaser. I was going to if no one else did. Our city is one of the 200 cities participating in the US. Apparently the mayor here is a greenie and rides a bike to work, so he was all over this. 🙂
Google “went dark” too, which was pretty cool, if only symbolic.
on the list. I’m turning out the lights. I’m turning off the computer. I’m turning off the TV.
Join me. It’s an opportunity to see the stars, to light a candle, to pause for an hour. Consider it a mini vacation from life as we know it, consider it a small political action, consider it a moment of worldwide unity.
Please join me wherever you are.
While it is worthwhile to create a renewed respect for ALL things environmental I am more inclined to make an attempt to suck every possible watt out of the power grid during this hour. Why?
Because as an America having been consistently jerked around by elite parasitic fucking control freaks for my entire life I see spreading awareness and support for a global fucking tax to enhancethose very same elite parasitic fucking control freak’s pocketbooks as more than annoying.
When said EPFCFs show up at my house with solar panels and wind turbines or release the many supressed energy technologies made over the years then and only then will I enter the church of the global enviornment savers.