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Earth Hour 2008by Danielle Wong
Toronto, January 30 2008
| | | | Ema Hazra has her Saturday night on March 29th already figured out—right down to the hour. From 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., the first-year Waterloo student will be back at home in east-end Toronto. She’s going to eat, play with her sister and “pretend to study.” All without electricity. Hazra decided to participate in Earth Hour after seeing the event through Facebook. “I’m too lazy to do anything else. This is something easy I can do,” she said. It’s a start. For the first time, on March 29, Toronto will officially participate in Earth Hour, an event that is hosted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Last year, WWF Sydney (Australia) spearheaded the event, as it wanted to lower its greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent. On the night of, 2 million people and over 2,000 businesses simultaneously turned off their lights. The result was in a 10.2 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions—doubling WWF Sydney’s initial goal. Earth Hour is a global event this year, with up to 20 cities officially participating, including Manila, Tel Aviv and Chicago. In Toronto, city hall, metro hall, civic centres and other city-run buildings will have their lights off as well. And earlier Friday, Exhibition Place also confirmed it will be turning of its lights that hour. Of course, the TTC and streetlights will remain on for safety measures. “(Earth Hour) is symbolic of the larger picture of raising people’s awareness of the impact we make (on the environment)…and get them to reduce this impact,” Toronto environmental office director Lawson Oates, said Friday. Thee city expects a million residents to join in, Oates said. “I think we’ll get a great response.” Torontonian Jen Straine responded to the Earth Hour event invitation on Facebook, along with more than 300,000 others. Straine said she was participating in Earth Hour because she believes that even turning off for an hour makes a difference. “Every little bit helps,” she said. During that hour, Straine said, she might bike or go for a walk. WWF Canada representative Tara Wood said Friday that she recognizes an hour is not going to make a difference in climate change. “Turning off the lights isn’t going to solve climate change,” she said. “But it’s a way to celebrate actions we’re taking together and see how you’re part of a bigger picture.” Earth Hour is a great way to get people thinking about climate change and about the small steps they can take to solve the problem, Wood added. Canadians want to take green action, and this event is a nice way to send a message to the government, she said“(Toronto) has been a leader in the climate change field,” Oates said. “We’ve done a lot and we’re continuing to do a lot.” Oates said other municipalities like Markham are in talks about participating that hour as well. Individuals interested in shutting off for one hour can sign up on wwf.ca/earthhour and create a personal profile. This profile allows people to upload photos, videos and blogs to let others know how they’ll be spending their one hour without power. Wood said there may be a downtown Toronto event that for Earth Hour participants. Details are expected to come in a couple of weeks, she said. In the meantime, it’s not too late to join. There are still 62 days until the lights go off. | | |
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