{"id":462410,"date":"2010-03-23T12:23:11","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T16:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/blog\/greenpicks\/274\/turn-it-off-take-action-for-earth-hour.html"},"modified":"2010-03-23T12:23:11","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T16:23:11","slug":"turn-it-off-take-action-for-earth-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/462410","title":{"rendered":"Turn it off, take action for Earth Hour"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"Empire
\n
The Empire State Building’s lights will
be turned off. (Photo: Brian Nielson)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What single event will unite 3,500 cities, towns, and
\nmunicipalities in 125 countries and regions — along with at least 80
\nmillion Americans? What worldwide action is hugely symbolic yet so simple, even
\na child can participate?<\/p>\n

It’s Earth Hour<\/a>, and it happens for the fourth time on
\nSaturday, March 27, 2010, starting at 8:30 p.m. local time. Just turn off the
\nlights, and you’re in.<\/p>\n

Landmarks like the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Empire
\nState Building
\nin New York, St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, the Eiffel
\nTower in Paris,
\nSydney’s Opera House, and the Acropolis and
\nParthenon in Athens
\nwill go dark for one hour. <\/p>\n

New monuments turning off the lights this time include Mount
\nRushmore in South Dakota, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Brandenburg Gate
\nin Berlin, Toronto’s
\nCN Tower, the Burj Khalifa (world’s tallest building) in Dubai,
\nand the Bosphorus Bridge that links Asia to Europe in Turkey<\/p>\n

Countries like the Czech
\nRepublic, Madagascar,
\nNepal, Panama, Saudi, Arabia,
\nLithuania, and the Cook Islands will participate in the light’s out
\ndemonstration for their first time in 2010. They’re joining Earth Hour
\noriginator Australia and
\npast participants such as Brazil,
\nHong Kong, Egypt,
\nGreat Britain, Switzerland, and Japan.<\/p>\n


\n\"London
\n
London Bridge as it is lit every night.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"London
\n
How London Bridge will look during Earth Hour. (Photos: World Wildlife Fund)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

In the U.S.,
\nNew England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady<\/a> is
\nturning off his lights, and so is the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash<\/a>. Downtown
\nAtlanta, Chicago,
\nand Nashville
\nwill dim. The usually glittering Las Vegas Strip will flick off the switch of
\nthe iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas”
\nsign along with the marquees for dozens of major hotels and the Fremont Street
\nExperience. <\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Seattle’s Space Needle, the Church of Latter-Day Saints Temple in
\nSalt Lake City, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and San Francisco’s Golden Gate
\nBridge are just a few of the American monuments that will turn off all unnecessary
\nlights.<\/p>\n


\n\"Flamingo
\n
Las Vegas’ Flamingo Hotel usually has a well-lit marquee featuring the current show.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Flamingo
\n
But during Earth Hour, the Flamingo will go dark. (Photos: World Wildlife Fund)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0 The power bills
\nwon’t go down dramatically with the lights dimmed for just one hour. (And don’t worry,
\nthere won’t be a power surge<\/a>
\nfrom people turning lights off and then back on all at once.) <\/p>\n

The goal of the
\nWorld Wildlife Fund-sponsored event isn’t to save energy on this one day — it’s
\nto raise awareness of climate
\nchange<\/a> and energy conservation all year round.<\/p>\n


\n\"Nashville\"
\n
Nashville’s riverfront glows on a typical night.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nashville\"
\n
Nashville makes a stand on climate change during Earth Hour.
(Photos: World Wildlife Fund)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

So use this hour in the dark to plan what you’re really
\ngoing to do to help the planet. There are lots of things that take less than
\none hour but add up to a lot of conservation. <\/p>\n

For example, you could start doing any of these things:<\/p>\n