WWF Earth Hour 2009 Turns Off Lights
On March 28 People Worldwide Spur Action for Climate Change
Dec 11, 2008
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has announced in a press release that Earth Hour 2009 will unite tens of millions of citizens in an hour of voluntary darkness on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm. United States Cities that are leading the list of U.S cities committing to go dark for one hour are Chicago,Illinois; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and San Francisco, California.
WWF Earth Hour 2009
WWF’s Earth Hour 2009 is an effort to spur action on climate change by going dark for one hour. The skylines of 74 cities in 62 countries will go dark as individual people, businesses, government buildings, schools and major landmarks shut off non-essential lights. Earth Hour is anticipated to be the largest climate event in history.
Major cities that have committed to Earth Hour include Auckland, Capt Ton, Copenhagen, Dubai, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Oslo, Rome, Singapore, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto . More cities are expected to sign on in the weeks ahead.
Earth Hour makes citizens aware of the threat of climate change to the ecosystems in their local areas and around the world. WWF officials state that Earth Hour will seek to reach over a billion people across a thousand cities.
WWF President and CEO Carter Roberts stated in the press release, that ‘The climate crisis threatens the ability of our planet to support its inhabitants, and it has never been more urgent that the voice of the people be heard on this issue. Earth Hour not only focuses global attention on the need to find solutions to climate change, but demonstrated the power that each of us has to make a difference in the future of our planet.’
Earth Hour 2008
The inaugural year of Earth Hour was 2008, so this is the second time the event is being held. I During Earth Hour 2008, over 50 million people in 400 cities on all seven continents turned off their lights.
Major icons that went dark during last year’s event include Sydney Opera House in Australia, Bangkok’s at Arun Buddhist Temple in Thailand, Coliseum in Rome, Italy; the Royal Castle in Stockholm, Sweden; the City Hall in London, England; Empire State Building in New York City, NY, U.S.; Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.; and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California; U.S. Major Corporations that switched off their lights included the Coca-Cola billboard in Times Square in New York. Google turned off its homepage black for an entire day.
The goal of Earth Hour is to promote and demonstrate worldwide solidarity and provide a visual mandate for change.
