1 hour with out power what could you possibly do? EarthHour.org. A stance against global warming. What could we do for 1 hour with out power. Here is the low down on Earth Hour!
1. What is Earth Hour?
- Earth Hour is World Wildlife Fund’s global initiative where individuals, businesses and governments turn off their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change.
- Earth Hour is a symbolic event designed to engage people from all walks of life in the climate change discussion to send a strong message to our political leaders that we want them to take meaningful action on climate change.
- The largest climate event in history where millions of people around the world will unite by turning off their lights for one hour, Earth Hour, to demand action on the climate crisis.
2. When is Earth Hour?
- Earth Hour 2009 takes place on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm–local time.
- Just like New Years Eve, Earth Hour will travel from time zone to time zone starting at 8:30pm in New Zealand.
3. Which cities in the U.S. are participating?
- Key cities include – Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City and San Francisco
4. Which cities around the world have signed up?
Already cities in more than 60 countries around the world have committed to Earth Hour 2009 including Abu Dhabi, Amman, Auckland, Beijing, Bogota, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Guatemala City, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kiev, Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Oslo, Rome, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Vancouver, Wellington and Warsaw. Please visit www.earthhour.org for a complete list.
5. What do we hope to accomplish through Earth Hour 2009?
- Through Earth Hour, WWF hopes to create political momentum for enacting national climate legislation and a global climate treaty.
- Through Earth Hour, WWF will continue to educate and raise awareness about the climate crisis and offer ideas and solutions that people can merge into their daily lives.
- Through Earth Hour, WWF aims to unify people’s voices from around the world who are demanding action form our elected officials to solve the climate crisis.
6. What happened during Earth Hour in 2008?
- Earth Hour 2008 was an important step in the fight against climate change. Over 50 million people, including an estimated36 million in the U.S., representing over 400 cities on all seven continents turned out their lights in the largest climate event of all time.
- The movement captured the public’s imagination with lights going out at some of the world’s most iconic landmarks including the Sydney Opera House, Bangkok’s Wat Arun Buddhist temple, the Coliseum in Rome, Stockholm’s Royal Castle, London’s City Hall, New York’s Empire State Building, Sears Tower in Chicago and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Other symbols going dark included Cola-Cola’s famous billboard in Times Square and the Google homepage.
7. What does a pledge to turn out your lights involve and commit me to?
Participating in Earth Hour is easy. All you have to do is sign up at www.EarthHourUS.org, tell your friends / co-workers about it and then turn off all of your non-essential lighting on March 28th at 8:30pm. Through signing up you are not committing to anything specific. Rather you are agreeing that strong action needs to be taken to find a solution to the climate crisis.
8. Who can participate in Earth Hour?
Anyone. Earth Hour is an inclusive event and everyone is invited to participate. WWF will provide tools online to enable any town, community, school, individual or organization to be part of the event.
9. Why is Earth Hour at 8:30pm this year instead of 8pm?
As the campaign has grown from one city in one country to a truly global campaign, the time has been moved to allow the maximum number of cities around the world to be suitably dark for the lights out campaign to have a greater visual impact. Earth Hour is held around the spring equinox, which ensures nearly equal sunset times in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
10. Do I have to turn off all of my electricity for Earth Hour?
Not at all. Through Earth Hour we are asking people to turn off all non-essential lighting. Emergency lighting, televisions and computers can stay on for the hour. The main point of Earth Hour is to unite people, companies and governments around the world through the symbolic flip of a switch. Earth Hour in itself will not lower our carbon footprint, rather it sends a signal to those in a place of power that we as individuals and communities demand action.
The decision on which lights to turn off can be made individually, but usually consists of overhead lights in rooms (whether it is your house or a business), outdoor lighting that does not impact safety, computers, decorative lights, neon signs for advertising, televisions, desk lamps, etc.
11. Will my city go completely black?
Earth Hour is not a black out. It is a voluntary power down of non-essential, decorative lighting by its participants. For many businesses in city skyscrapers or for many government buildings the lights are turned off at the end of the business day the Friday before Earth Hour and won’t go back on until that Monday morning, so the event will be more of a fade to gray than an abrupt shift to black. There is usually no instant dramatic difference, but rather a gradual power down starting the day prior.
Earth Hour turns off non-essential lighting only. Lights necessary for public safety will not go out.
12. Are there any events planned for Earth Hour 2009?
Details of local Earth Hour events can be found at www.earthhour.org. The site will be updated constantly so if there is anything posted for your city you can plan your own event or check back frequently for updates.
13. How can I encourage my town, city, family to participate?
By visiting www.earthhour.org you can find tool kits walking you through how individuals, community groups, businesses and cities can get involved with Earth Hour.
14. Is Earth Hour merely a symbolic act?
Symbols are quite powerful. From the Boston Tea Party all the way to the sit-ins in the 60’s, symbols have a way of sparking change that sweeps around the planet. Flipping the switch for Earth Hour is a way for people to get involved and demand action wherever they are. It’s easy so everyone can participate no matter their location, age or income level.
15. What are governments doing?
This December, leaders of the world will gather in Copenhagen to create an international agreement to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Earth Hour is a call to officials representing us that we need to reach a new global deal. On a regional level, many governments are using Earth Hour as a platform to launch their green initiatives.
Many states are also enacting strong climate change measures, such as California’s tough new automobile emissions standard, and many are also entering into regional frameworks for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Congress is also expected to take up climate change legislation this year – a strong climate bill is a top priority of both President Obama and Congressional leaders.
16. What is Earth Hour’s relationship with WWF?
Earth Hour is a World Wildlife Fund-led limitative which relies strongly on the support of valued partners. While WWF is the primary organization behind Earth Hour, many other groups and NGOs are supporting Earth Hour in 2009.
17. Why is WWF dealing with climate change?
WWF is committed to saving the planet’s most threatened habitats and species, including tigers, rhinos, elephants and polar bears. To do this effectively WWF must focus on the most imminent threats, climate change being an overarching issue for all of them.
Simply put, climate change is a game changer. It threatens to undo the great progress we’ve been making in conserving the world’s most important and most threatened regions and animals.
18. What else does WWF do to reduce the effects of climate change in the US and around the world?
WWF works with communities, governments and businesses around the world to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Our efforts are focused around four key areas:
- Securing a new global climate treaty that will sharply reduce emissions and ensure global average temperatures are kept from rising beyond the dangerous threshold of 2 degrees Celsius (3.5 degree Fahrenheit) – According to the IPCC, a UN scientific panel representing nearly all of the world’s governments (including the US), if global average temperatures rise by more than 2 degrees C, we could expect to see very dangerous consequences that would be costly in both dollars and human lives. These impacts include violent storms, much stronger hurricanes, substantial sea level rise and extreme droughts. Already, global average temperatures have increased by .75 degrees C (1 degree F), over pre-industrial levels. WWF has an extensive campaign that is working with governments around the world, through the UN process, to secure a new global climate treaty. Negotiations on the treaty are expected to conclude this December in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Combating tropical deforestation, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions Each year, an area the size of New Jersey is cut down in the Amazon and Borneo, two of the world’s largest rainforests. WWF is on the ground in both of those places, as well as the Congo, working with corporate, governmental and community partners to protect the last of the world’s tropical forests. Trees absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide – the primary greenhouse gas – which is released into the atmosphere when forests are cut down. If the Amazon were its own country, it would be the world’s seventh largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
- Working with corporations to improve efficiency and reduce emissions – Through WWF’s Climate Savers program, some of the world’s largest and most respected corporations – including Nike, Coca-Cola, HP and Johnson & Johnson – are reducing their global greenhouse gas emissions. And in the process, these companies are saving money as they make their operations more efficient. Climate Savers, now in its 10th year, currently has 19 corporate members.
- Helping communities and nature prepare for and adapt to changes in climate – Climate change is already having an impact in regions all around the world. WWF is on the ground helping wildlife and ecosystems adjust to substantial changes that are resulting from a warming planet. For example, in response to the record melting of Arctic sea ice - the polar bear’s main habitat - WWF is working with communities on the North Slope of Alaska to establish polar bear patrols to help mitigate increased instances of human-bear conflicts.
19. What are the next steps after turning out ones lights?
Earth Hour is just the start. After the lights go out around the world we hope that conversations will continue on climate change and that people will take initiative to make small changes in their lives to be more carbon efficient. We encourage simple but effective energy-saving measures such as installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, which are more efficient and last much longer than traditional incandescent bulbs, choosing energy efficient appliances, making sure their car tires are properly inflated and unplugging electronics when they are not in use. WWF will spend the rest of the year taking the voices of the people who participated in Earth Hour to our policy makers and work with them on finding ways to get us out of the climate crisis the world is facing.
