The Earth Hour initiative started in Australia’s biggest city Sydney last year when an estimated 2.2 million people flicked the switch — leaving the Syneys opera House bathed in moonlight and the Harbor Bridge blacked out. 60-minutes of darkness generated huge interest around the world and 23 other cities from the Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and the Middle East had now signed up to be part of the 2008 event.
The eight latest cities to join “Earth Hour” are Atlanta, San Francisco and Phoenix in the US; Thailand’s capital Bangkok; Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal in and Dublin Ireland.
They join Australian cities Sydney, Perth Melbourne, Canberraa, Brisbane, Adelaide; Denmark’s Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense ; the Philippien Capita Manila, Fiji’s biggest city Suva,Christ church in New Zeland: Chicago; Tel Aviv And Toronto
The “Earth Hour” concept, which is managed by the conservation group WWF, to extend beyond the borders of these countries on the scheduled start time of 8:00 pm local time on Saturday March 29.
The idea is that anyone could do it, whether they were in a small village in France Or a city like Sydney. The Sydney event, in which residents were asked to switch off lights and appliances for one hour, had raised awareness about the problem of global warming while reducing Greenhouse gas emissions by conserving energy.
I know that on the night we thought we might be able to cut energy use in the city by five percent but it ended up being 10.1 percent,” he said.
He said he hoped Earth Hour provided a “very big visual message” to politicians that Climate changes must be addressed quickly.
The problem is massive but we do make a difference when we all take action.
Filed under: Earth Hour 2008 | Tagged: Earth Hour 2008, Electric savings, March 29 8:00PM, Saving the planet
