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Post by Jeni Treehugger on Feb 20, 2008 16:59:18 GMT
It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change? The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour. On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - sending a powerful national and global message that it is possible to take action on global warming. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for one hour. With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. At 8pm on 29 March 2008, Earth Hour goes global, with cities and towns around the world taking stand on the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, and millions of people uniting to turn the tide on global warming. To inspire yourself and those you speak to about Earth Hour, check out www.earthhour.org
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Post by Urban Warrior on Mar 11, 2008 19:28:28 GMT
I was just about to post this when i saw you already had Hedge, my names down..
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Post by cerridwen on Mar 11, 2008 20:34:21 GMT
I was just about to post this when i saw you already had Hedge, my names down.. Mine too
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Post by Jeni Treehugger on Mar 29, 2008 2:45:37 GMT
Nice to see that google participating in this too!
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Post by cerridwen on Mar 30, 2008 8:46:02 GMT
(I switched nearly everything off, apart from the freezer)
Tens of millions switch off worldwide for 'Earth Hour': organisers By Madeleine Coorey AFP - 44 minutes agoSYDNEY (AFP)
- Tens of millions of people switched off lightbulbs this weekend as part of a global campaign to throw the spotlight on climate change, organisers of the Australian-led 'Earth Hour' initiative said.
(Advertisement) From Sydney to Asia, Europe, Canada and the US, "many tens of millions" of people flicked the switch on Saturday night, plunging cities, towns and homes into darkness, chief of environmental group WWF-Australia Greg Bourne said.
The event, which was first held in Sydney last year, saw the lights dimmed in major cities at 8:00 pm local time, with skyscrapers, public monuments and private homes plunged into darkness.
Bourne said the response from around the world had been astounding.
While 26 cities are officially signed up for 'Earth Hour', Bourne said the campaign had already stretched well beyond that and that the intention was for the voluntary, 60-minute blackout to be even bigger in 2009.
"In pretty much every country in the world, someone has signed up. Whether it be one, two, three or 3,000 individuals," he told AFP.
"Basically every continent including Antarctica had some involvement and what I think will happen next year is that we will get deeper and deeper involvement in Asia, in Russia.
"We're pretty certain, that when we do it next year, China will become very much more involved," he added.
Earth Hour organisers asked governments, businesses and individuals to switch off the power for one hour on Saturday to save energy and thereby produce fewer greenhouse gases.
Bourne said the campaign was less about making a real reduction in energy usage, and more about increasing public awareness about energy efficiency.
He said indications were that the event had been a success in not only Sydney, where the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House faded into relative darkness, but around the world.
"We had 2.2 million last year; I reckon by the time we finally count it up, we will have about 100 million people involved around the world," he said.
Energy Australia, which supplies much of Sydney's electricity, said a drop of about 8.4 percent in energy usage had been recorded in the city during the hour, equivalent to 1.6 million light bulbs being switched off.
A national poll of some 3,400 people taken on Saturday and Sunday indicated that 58 percent of people living in major Australian cities had participated in the event by switching off lights or other appliances.
Meanwhile power consumption in Christchurch, the only New Zealand city participating in the global event, plummeted nearly 13 percent during the voluntary switch-off, figures released Sunday showed.
In Ireland, the initiative was led in the capital by the Dublin City Council, which turned off all non-street lighting on 13 of the 14 bridges in the city. It also turned off all the lights in City Hall and civic buildings.
Cities involved in 'Earth Hour' include Aalborg, Aarhus, Adelaide, Atlanta, Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra, Chicago, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Darwin, Dublin, Hobart, Manila, Melbourne, Montreal, Odense, Ottawa, Perth, Phoenix, San Francisco, Suva, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Vancouver.
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Post by cerridwen on Mar 31, 2008 6:58:53 GMT
Lights out in climate change event Press Assoc. - Sunday, March 30 10:56 amLights in buildings across the country went off for an hour to raise awareness of climate change.
(Advertisement) The Prince of Wales' residence in Gloucestershire, Highgrove House, and Winchester Cathedral were among those plunged into darkness as part of Earth Hour.
Organiser WWF-UK enlisted the support of 28 local authorities to switch off their lights between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday night.
These included London, Birmingham, Plymouth, Coventry, Bournemouth, Cardiff and Norwich.
The lights were also turned off at the Welsh Assembly, Warwick Castle, Brighton Pier, the theatre district of Milton Keynes and all the arcades in Great Yarmouth.
A spokeswoman for WWF-UK explained the event would be repeated again next year when the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen will be held.
She said: "This year was a warm-up year. We decided we would push it our further in 2009.
"We are going to send out a big message that people around the world really care."
The event was part of a global campaign with lights going off at iconic landmarks including the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge for the hour.
Earth Hour was started by WWF-Australia in Sydney last year, which saw 2.2 million people and more than 2,100 businesses turn their lights off
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