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Global environmental challenges

07:36 March 27th, 2008

Is lights off campaign a turn-off?

Posted by: Alister Doyle
Tags: Environment, , , ,

A workman holds onto a 32 metre balloon in the shape of a light bulb on Sydney Harbour to promote the Earth Hour event March 19, 2008. Earth Hour is to be held at 8pm on March 29 where the public and business worldwide are encouraged to switch off their lights to join the fight against climate change. REUTERS/Mick Tsikas (AUSTRALIA)Millions of people around the world are set to turn off lights and electrical appliances at 8 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 29, to highlight the problem of global warming.

Landmarks from the Sydney Opera House to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco  plan to turn off their lights for the event, pioneered by Australia last year.

Organisers of “Earth Hour” say the idea is to make people aware of the links between global warming and electricity, which is usually generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil which emit greenhouse gases. They say 24 large cities around the world are taking part.  Last year 2.2 million Sydney residents switched off the lights.

I suppose that if you were in space and it went to plan, you might see successive bands of the earth dim slightly on the stoke of 8 p.m. — a bit like a slow Mexican wave in a soccer stadium.Waves come ashore along Baker Beach with the Golden Gate Bridge in background in San Francisco, California May 27, 2007. San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge opened on May 27, 1937 and 200,000 people crossed it on its first day. It had taken four years, four months and 22 days to complete. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES)

Then again the dimming will probably be hard to spot: street lamps and other lights needed to discourage a one-hour bonanza for burglars or muggers will stay on.

Is this is a great idea or just a gimmick?

Have past initiatives to raise public awareness of the way individuals can help fight climate change, such as the Live Earth concerts organised by former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore in July last year, had a lasting effect?

Will you be turning off your lights?

21 comments so far

Hell no! I will NOT turn off my lights. I will turn every light in my house ON. Also, the front porch and the back porch.

- Posted by Rosemarie Moore

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