The Empire State Building’s lights will
be turned off. (Photo: Brian Nielson)
What single event will unite 3,500 cities, towns, and
municipalities in 125 countries and regions — along with at least 80
million Americans? What worldwide action is hugely symbolic yet so simple, even
a child can participate?
It’s Earth Hour, and it happens for the fourth time on
Saturday, March 27, 2010, starting at 8:30 p.m. local time. Just turn off the
lights, and you’re in.
Landmarks like the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Empire
State Building
in New York, St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, the Eiffel
Tower in Paris,
Sydney’s Opera House, and the Acropolis and
Parthenon in Athens
will go dark for one hour.
New monuments turning off the lights this time include Mount
Rushmore in South Dakota, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Brandenburg Gate
in Berlin, Toronto’s
CN Tower, the Burj Khalifa (world’s tallest building) in Dubai,
and the Bosphorus Bridge that links Asia to Europe in Turkey
Countries like the Czech
Republic, Madagascar,
Nepal, Panama, Saudi, Arabia,
Lithuania, and the Cook Islands will participate in the light’s out
demonstration for their first time in 2010. They’re joining Earth Hour
originator Australia and
past participants such as Brazil,
Hong Kong, Egypt,
Great Britain, Switzerland, and Japan.
London Bridge as it is lit every night.
How London Bridge will look during Earth Hour. (Photos: World Wildlife Fund)
In the U.S.,
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is
turning off his lights, and so is the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash. Downtown
Atlanta, Chicago,
and Nashville
will dim. The usually glittering Las Vegas Strip will flick off the switch of
the iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas”
sign along with the marquees for dozens of major hotels and the Fremont Street
Experience.
The lights will go out at governors’ residences and/or state capitol buildings in 33 states including Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and New York.
Seattle’s Space Needle, the Church of Latter-Day Saints Temple in
Salt Lake City, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and San Francisco’s Golden Gate
Bridge are just a few of the American monuments that will turn off all unnecessary
lights.
Las Vegas’ Flamingo Hotel usually has a well-lit marquee featuring the current show.
But during Earth Hour, the Flamingo will go dark. (Photos: World Wildlife Fund)
Why? The power bills
won’t go down dramatically with the lights dimmed for just one hour. (And don’t worry,
there won’t be a power surge
from people turning lights off and then back on all at once.)
The goal of the
World Wildlife Fund-sponsored event isn’t to save energy on this one day — it’s
to raise awareness of climate
change and energy conservation all year round.
Nashville’s riverfront glows on a typical night.
Nashville makes a stand on climate change during Earth Hour.
(Photos: World Wildlife Fund)
So use this hour in the dark to plan what you’re really
going to do to help the planet. There are lots of things that take less than
one hour but add up to a lot of conservation.
For example, you could start doing any of these things:
- Turn
off lights when you leave a room for 15 minutes or longer. - Drink tap
water instead of bottled water. - Put
your computer in power-save
mode. - Turn
off video game
consoles when not in use. - Seal
air leaks, adjust your water heater, and control your thermostat to lower
energy usage and waste. - Go meatless
on Mondays. - Watch
out for energy
vampires around the house and unplug the biggies. - Swap
out all your light bulbs for CFLs. - Stop catalogs
and junk mail from piling up in your mailbox. - Reduce
the brightness
of your TV set to the “home” mode. - Use up
leftovers, compost, and avoid wasting
food. - Find
out how walkable
your hometown is and try walking to your weekend errands. - Fix a leaky
faucet or toilet. - Use
the low-water and low-heat settings on your dishwasher,
and don’t pre-rinse dishes. - Hang
your clothes to dry on a clothesline
in spring and summer. - Take public
transit to work or school. - Install
dimmer
switches on your lights and plug appliances into smart power switches.
Get more ideas for living green, saving energy,
saving water, conserving limited resources, and saving money at the same time.
Earth Hour is only 60 minutes. It’s a start, maybe a wake-up
call for some when they see landmarks and cities go dark. What we do the rest
of the day and the rest of the year is what counts in the long run.